In short, he's a pretty darn good guy!
Behind each super PAC, it seems, is at least one extremely wealthy individual, committed for his own reasons to a particular candidate. Newt Gingrich has casino mogul Sheldon Adelson; Rick Santorum, who stunned the political world Tuesday night by winning three (admittedly nonbinding) state GOP contests -- in Colorado, Missouri and Minnesota -- has Foster S. Friess, a hugely successful investor who calls himself, rather immodestly, "the man atop the horse."
A Born-Again Philanthropist
In 1974, Friess founded the mutual friend management company Friess Associates, which currently has in excess of $4.6 billion in assets under management. Before that, Friess -- a Wisconsin native who grew up on a cattle ranch and studied business administration at the state university -- spent two years in Army Intelligence and served as director of research for a New York Stock Exchange firm. Friess is said to have sold 51% of his eponymous company in 2001 for $247 million, but reportedly still holds a 10% stake in it.
The central fact of Friess' personal life seems to be his status as a born-again Christian. Shortly after launching Friess Associates, he found himself, by his own account, in "a marriage flirting with divorce," raising "emotionally distant children." Citing Blaise Pascal's maxim -- "Within each person is a God-shaped vacuum that only God can fill" -- Friess found religion: In October 1978, he has said (with surprising casualness), "I did one of those 'born again' things and invited Jesus to become the 'Chairman of the Board' -- of my life."
Friess cites Scripture as the inspiration for his financial altruism -- specifically, Galatians 6:2 ("When we carry one another's burdens, we fulfill the law of Christ") and Matthew 25:35-40 ("When you do it for the least of my brethren, you do it for Me") -- but his commitment to giving is braided together with a sociopolitical conviction. Specifically, he holds a firm belief that "private individuals are called to carry others' burdens -- rather than relying on the government to do so." In support of that philosophy, Friess has gone so far as to offer a musical festival $40,000 on the condition that they refuse $11,000 in government funding. The event organizers accepted.
Friess' philanthropy is extensive -- his grant-making foundation is capitalized with more than $100 million -- and his desire to help others is sincere. But the man atop the horse is given to strange, theatrical gestures as well. Take, for instance, the climax of the lavish four-day celebration he threw for his and his wife Lynette's 70th birthdays in July 2010. In the invitations, he had asked his 200 guests to identify their favorite charity (one that reflected Galatians 6:2, of course) and said he would donate $70,000 (get it?) to the worthiest nominee.
While Four Seasons waiters handed out envelopes on silver platters, Friess asked that his guests should all open them, and that the winner should stand up and shout in celebration while everyone else remained seated. As the envelopes were unsealed, WyoFile reports, "people exploded up from every table, shouting 'I won! I won!' The Friesses had surprised their guests by writing $70,000 checks to every one of the nominated charities -- a show of generosity that cost them $7.7 million. (In most cases, each couple at the party designated a single charity.)" Read the entire story>>>>>>>>>>>here>>>>>>>
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