| You
can't take it with you
by
Peter Galuszka
Virginia
Business
June 2003
Okay, I know, the headline’s a little off base.
It’s the title of the 1938 Frank Capra movie starring
Jean Arthur that deals with a ditzy family. The light-hearted
flick reaffirms that it’s okay to be a non-conformist.
But the movie title also is a reminder that riches are
fleeting over the long term. What people are remembered
for are their good deeds. And performing them —
and giving away riches — can be as non-conformist
an act as any.
So,
we at Virginia Business decided to make charity our
theme as we put together our annual list of the 100
richest and most influential Virginians. It’s one
of our best-read features. Some years, we look for economic
trends that have buoyed or dropped net worth. This year,
we see a continuing downward trend but the reasons weren’t
all that new: the continued slump in high technology,
a weak economy, war jitters.
During
times like these when pink slips are flying, institutions
from colleges to social services need a boost. Giving
en masse through charitable organizations helps, but
too often a lot of the donations go to promotion and
administrative salaries. One of the beauties of the
wealthy giving gifts is that it eliminates the middle
men and women and provides a major chunk of change with
few strings attached and a lot of siphoning off along
the way.
Pursuing
this idea graphically appealed to us so we contacted
Susan Sanford, an Oakland, Calif., artist who did last
year’s Virginia 100 cover. We picked five individuals
from the list whom we felt exemplified a giving spirit.
We realize, of course, that many of the 100 are indeed
generous and hope we don’t offend anyone. But 100
people just won’t fit on a cover. Susan came up
with what we felt was a fun and breezy illustration
that gets our point across. One individual we picked
for the cover is Frank Batten Sr., former chairman of
Landmark Communications. He’s giving away $170
million and while doing so, gave this inspiring quote:
“Why wait for my will?”
Batten’s
statement is a pretty good compass during these recent
years that have seen far too much corporate greed and
arrogance on the part of top executives. Their boards
have handed some of them ridiculously extravagant salaries,
considering what they actually have done for their companies
and shareholders. We in the business press have deified
far too many. Just a few years ago, for instance, you
couldn’t walk into any airport newsstand without
seeing fawning cover stories about Jack Welch, head
of General Electric. Then came his departure, and, in
divorce papers, news that he was spending up to $8,000
a month in company money on such frivolities as purchases
of high-end wine. Meanwhile, the company that he supposedly
built into an incredibly durable powerhouse is taking
its lumps.
The
women and men who have wealth and share it generously
without much fanfare stand in startling contrast. They
are the true non-conformists — not the “Greed
is good” Gordon Geckoes featured in the movie “Wall
Street,” but types who might enjoy living in the
house ruled by Grandpa Lionel Barrymore in another flick,
Capra’s classic movie.
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