The Business of Giving

While the media frenzy concentrated on the more sensational elements of recent events involving Bernie Madoff and his alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme, it also offered an opportunity to get a rare look at the inner workings of close-knit social networking—traditionally, the philanthropic world is deeply rooted in personal relationships and peer solicitations.

Cover Profile

Russell Simmons

By Victoria Scrozzo

He may have taken hip-hop mainstream, started a clothing and jewelry line, and forever improved race relations, but for all-world mogul Russell Simmons, 2009 will be the year “to give back.”

Laurent Dassault

By Liliane-Carol Benoit

The grandson of legendary aviation pioneer Marcel and son of business titan Serge, Laurent Dassault has carved out his own legacy while strengthening the family name.

Francine LeFrak

By Aliza Davidovit

Spurred to change and improve lives, businesswoman, filmmaker, and philanthropist Francine LeFrak works to put a human face on vital social issues.

Zarin Mehta

By Nancy A. Ruhling

A career accountant, Zarin Mehta has combined his lifelong love of music with a keen business mind to take the New York Philharmonic into unchartered territory—North Korea.

Lorry Lokey

By Erin Dym

Business Wire founder Lorry Lokey made hundreds of millions of dollars when he sold the company to Warren Buffett in 2006—and when his time is up, he hopes there’s nothing left.

Peter Schiff

By Nancy A. Ruhling

Investment advisor Peter Schiff was one of the few financial gurus to predict the current economic crisis. Now the man often referred to as Dr. Doom wants you to know one thing about the foreseeable future: it won’t be pretty.

Phil Cubeta

By N.C. Naisak

America’s morals tutor Phil Cubeta has a message for your conscience: philanthropy beomes more urgent as people grow wealthier.

Niall Ferguson

By Nancy A. Ruhling

Harvard professor Niall Ferguson, whose research looks to history to predict the future, has a very simple message for investors: Don’t panic.

Roberta Grossman

By Soriya Daniels

When she was a young girl, award-winning filmmaker Roberta Grossman read about Holocaust resister Hannah Senesh. Now, with the help of Steven Spielberg and the creator of Friends, Grossman’s captured the story in a new documentary that tells the harrowing tale of one woman’s love for her mother.

Alan Hassenfeld

By Nancy Kleinbaum

Hasbro Inc.’s Alan Hassenfeld may be the final link to the toy empire his grandfather created, but it is his family’s legacy of giving that he hopes to secure.

Marek Halter

By Liliane-Carol Benoit

Marek Halter’s amazing life story—which has taken him from a meeting with Stalin to dinner with Putin—is only part of the message of peace he hopes to deliver.

Miles Nadal

By Elisa Birnbaum

An otherworldly gift for business may have started Miles Nadal’s journey, but a passion to change lives has kept him going.

Michael Glasser

By Linda Fisher Kaletsky

The rise, fall, and rise of jean impresario Michael Glasser.