The head of a community foundation has today paid tribute to an Irish American billionaire who contributed almost $30m to different causes on the island.

Charles Feeney, who temporarily relocated his family to Bermuda in 1979 to incorporate the general Atlantic Group and who gave donations to the community over many years, has died at the age of 92.

Myra Virgil, chief executive and managing director of the Bermuda Foundation, worked for Mr Feeney’s private foundation The Atlantic Philanthropies for five years as Bermuda’s programme executive.

Dr Virgil said: “It was an honour to have been involved in the philanthropic work of this extraordinary man.

“He was a true philanthropist, giving away all his wealth during his lifetime. Initially this was accomplished anonymously but eventually the fund was so large that it required a significant professional infrastructure. His particular focus was health, education, reconciliation and human rights.”

Mr Feeney made billions of dollars through the sale of duty-free luxury items around the world. The Atlantic Philanthropies donated more than $8 billion to causes in five continents, with grants mainly in the US, the UK, Ireland, Australia, South Africa, Vietnam, Cuba and Bermuda.

Mr Feeney’s private foundation supported the creation and establishment of the Bermuda Foundation, which builds and maintains funds for the non-profit sector.

Dr Virgil added: “As Atlantic Philanthropies was winding down, discussions with colleagues at Atlantic and in Bermuda made it clear that a community foundation would be significantly beneficial to Bermuda to ensure continuing support for the essential work of our non-profit.”

A report published by The Atlantic Philanthropies said that Atlantic funded research in 2011 to assess the feasibility of establishing a foundation to provide larger scale and more reliable funding for non-profit organisations.

The research found that Bermuda would benefit from such a collaborative funding enterprise and that several corporate and private foundations and wealthy individuals would likely support it. In January 2013, the Bermuda Foundation was legally established.

Dr Virgil thanked Mr Feeney for his contribution to Bermuda’s community. She said: “He was a rare man. While he expected accountability for his donations, he never expected to be feted for his contribution to a better life for so many in communities around the world.

“An enormously successful entrepreneur and businessman – he was a humble human being, who would travel in economy, didn’t own huge houses, and dined at the simplest restaurants.

“He treated people with respect and honoured the contribution that frontline service providers made. In short, Chuck’s legacy is a better world.”

For more about the Atlantic/Bermuda connection, click here.