James Michener
In his long writing life, James Michener aimed to donate at least 90 percent of what he earned from his 43 novels. He seems to have more than made his goal; at his death, in October 1997, his assets were estimated at less than US $ 10 million. He had given away US $ 117 million.
Michener makes a good example for other philanthropists, not just in how much he gave, but in his style. of giving. The writer worked hard at doing good, following up his donations to see how the money was used. He gave to things for which he had a passion, and he had a lot of fun in doing so.
Michener was 90, when he died. He was on Fortune magazine's list of America's top 25 philanthropists--the only writer in a crowd of tycoons. Asked, shortly before his death, whether he ever wished he had his millions back, he said sure, so that he should have the pleasure of giving them away again.
Too often, says Nelson Aldrich, editor of The American Benefactor, a magazine about philanthropists, the rich give without much imagination. "They give to the college they went to, and the hospital where they'll die," says. "And most of the rich are stingy; few give even as much as 10 percent, the traditional title. They hold on to the myth of not darkness capital."
Michener did, in fact, give to his college - US $ 7.2 million to Swarthmore, in Pennsylvania. He called it a repayment for the US $ 2,000 basketball scholarship they gave him in 1925. As he wrote to the college president in 1969," Coming as I did from a family with no income at all, and with no prospects whatever, college was the narrow door that led from darkness into light."
His will leaves almost everything to Swarthmore, including fire, re royalties from his books. Michener always described himself as a founding, beta in New York City and raised by Mabel Michener, a Quaker widow, in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. She lived, he said, by taking in other people's children and other people's laundry. For his last 15 years, Michener lived modestly in Austin, Texas, where he has moved to write the 1,000 - page saga Texas. Each of his big best sellers, including Texas, Hawaii and Covenant made about US $ 5million. And there were 20 of them. What's more, he still collected royalties from the musical and movie South Pacific, which was inspired by his first book, Tales of the South Pacific, written when he was 40.
Frail from kidney disease in his last years, Michener was pretty much confined to a reclining chair in a small study, simply decorated. There were few personal possessions besides some photos of himself and his last wife, and as unframed faded poster of Tahiti.
A source of pleasure and company in those years was the Texas Centre for Writers. His largest gift, to-tailing US $ 64.2 million, went to the University of Texas, with US $ 18 million going to found and support the writers’centre. He got a lot back, he said--" You meet bright people, you can consult with anybody there, and there are 23 libraries on campus."
Every year Michener would meet with the 10 incoming students, one by one, and he went out with them every fall to the salt Lick barbecue restaurant, lie often ale at the college cafeteria, centre director James Magnuson recalls. He enjoyed their barbecue chicken special.
His gift to the Texas Centre included hundreds of modern American paintings worth a total of US $ 31 million. His US $ 25 million collection of Japanese prints had already been donated to Honolulu's city art gallery. His next largest gift was $ 11.5 million to two museums and the library in his hometown of Doylestown.
Michener's smaller gifts also reveal a lot about where his affections lay. And they reveal that it was a very good thing to have James Miehener working in your vicinity. While researching Alaska, for example, he lived in a log cabin near the tiny Sheldon Jackson College in Sitka. He us

A. James Michener is an industrious and successful writer, and also an industrious and successful philan thropist.
B. Shortly before his death , James Michener wished he had his millions back.
C. James Michener graduated from the University of Texas.
D. Michener gave generously to the writers whose styles were very similar to his.