Thanks to a True Philanthropist
A legendary philanthropic figure died today. At least on the day I write this. And outside of Omaha, no one will really know. And in some ways, it’s probably the way he would want it.
Walter Scott was the “godfather” of philanthropy for Omaha. But any negative connotation that might come from that term could never be applied to him. I had the privilege of being around Walter multiple times in my career. He was an unassuming person in the general public, but deadly intuitive and intelligent. And he made billions of dollars. And he spent his life giving them away.
Walter made his first fortune as the head of one of the world’s largest engineering and construction firms, Peter Kiewit and Sons. Based in Omaha Nebraska, he became CEO and Chairman of the Board back in the 1970s. Because of his business acumen and reputation, Peter Kiewit did things like building the Chunnel between France and England and some of the largest and longest bridges in the world. They build nuclear power plants globally. And Walter got rich. And then Walter got richer, by investing in technology at a time when no one knew what technology was.
According to Forbes, his estimated wealth is somewhere between $4 and $5 billion. The Omaha World-Herald estimated that he’s given away $500 million in his lifetime. I know factually that that $500 million is only short by a factor of three. The $4 billion might be accurate, but almost all of it will go into his foundation to better Omaha and the state of Nebraska.
But what made Walter special wasn’t just his own generosity, it was his thought about making Omaha a better place. He created an organization to lead philanthropic efforts in partnership with government entities. The public-private partnerships built a convention center you normally only see in communities of multiple millions of people, the baseball park that hosts the College World Series, the VA hospital that was built in the last few years, a performance arena that is so good that the US swim trials have been here for the last three runs to the Olympics…and also countless NCAA championships. He can take credit for a new “downtown square/mall” to attract people to the central core of the city. And many more projects, totally almost $2 billion dollars where some 60% of each project would come from private philanthropy with the rest from government resources. He created an entity that could make Omaha better.
But he was more than that. He mentored many people, who became very wealthy because of business interests, investments, and other opportunities, to be engaged in making Omaha a better place. Walter believed in the synapse of where a community comes together with its governance and overlaps with its citizens’ needs. The depth of giving, and disbursement of the philosophy of philanthropy in Omaha, can be directly attributed to Walter Scott.
No one outside of Omaha will know when he died. 99% of the country will have no idea of his impact. But I heard Walter say once that impacting one life is more important than impacting many because you can directly affect one person at a very deep level…. much more so than the entire community. And when you help enough individuals, you help everyone. The “godfather” of philanthropy for Omaha, Nebraska. His likes will never be seen again. He genuinely, deeply, passionately, and effectively impacted not just one person but past, current, and future generations to come.
