Jewish billionaire couple Laura and John Arnold fell off the Forbes Rich List, the list of America’s richest people, after donating nearly half of their fortune, the Jewish Chronicle published last week.
The Arnold couple donated an estimated $2.07 billion to charitable causes, and more than $204 million of that sum was donated over the past two years alone.
The couple has parted with an equivalent of 42% of their estimated $2.9 billion fortune.
While they have donated to help combat a wide range of social issues, the duo has focused much of their resources on education and criminal justice reform.
John, 51, retired at 38 after a successful career as a natural gas trader at the now Enron and running his own hedge fund. Laura, 53, was formerly a mergers-and-acquisitions attorney.
While the pair fell off the Forbes list, they appeared high on a separate list released earlier this year highlighting the US’s most generous philanthropists.
Why did the philanthropists donate their millions?
"Laura, a former attorney, and John, who ran an energy-focused hedge fund, work full-time as philanthropists. Their giving is data-driven and guided by evidence-based programmes shown to have positive societal outcomes,” noted Forbes.
"We are deeply indebted to our community and our country for the many opportunities granted to us, and for a social and economic environment in which we could make the most of those opportunities," the Arnolds wrote when they signed their 2010 Giving Pledge.
“We are deeply indebted to our community and our country for the many opportunities granted to us, and for a social and economic environment in which we could make the most of those opportunities. We consider it our responsibility to ensure the same opportunities for others. We view our wealth in this light – not as an end in itself, but as an instrument to effect positive and transformative change,” they said.