Diagnosed with brain cancer in 2003, Joan decided to give it all away. Her donations, announced after her death in 2003, included $1.5 billion to the Salvation Army, the largest gift to a single charity in U.S. history up to that time, and $225 million to National Public Radio, which continues to thank Joan daily.
Lisa Napoli, a former public radio correspondent and the author of Ray & Joan, has doggedly tracked down details of the Krocs’ lives, and these you-are-there moments enliven the tale. The impulse behind Joan’s remarkable philanthropy and the long-term impact of her giving are less vivid.
“Her compassion seemed limitless, applied at seemingly random moments to a wide range of recipients,” Napoli writes. “No matter how much she gave, or how grandly, Joan still had this nagging sense she wasn’t doing enough.”
Like The Founder, the book leaves it up to the reader to decide whether the Krocs’ often surprising choices were the right ones in the end.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.