Bernard Osher (born 1927) is an American businessman, best known for his work as a philanthropist.

Life and career

Osher was born to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family and raised in

Biddeford, Maine Biddeford is a city in York County, Maine, United States. It is the principal commercial center of York County. Its population was 22,552 at the 2020 census. The twin cities of Saco and Biddeford include the resort communities of Biddeford Po ...

. In 1948, he graduated with a B.A. from

Bowdoin College Bowdoin College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. When Bowdoin was chartered in 1794, Maine was still a part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The college offers 34 majors and 36 minors, as well as several joint eng ...

. He spent his early years in southern Maine, owning and running a large hardware store on Main Street in Biddeford as well as a big summer amusement park called

Palace Playland Palace Playland is a seasonal amusement park located in Old Orchard Beach, Maine. It has operated on the same site since 1902. History In the 1900s, Palace Playland's startup decade, the then-small amusement park centered on a roller skating r ...

in nearby

Old Orchard Beach Old Orchard Beach is a resort town and census-designated place (CDP) in York County, Maine, United States. The population was 8,960 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Portland− South Portland−Biddeford, Maine Metropolitan Statistical Ar ...

. After having worked at Oppenheimer & Company in New York, he moved to California, where he became a founding director of

World Savings In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

, which became the second largest savings institution in the United States. World Savings ultimately merged with the

Wachovia Corporation Wachovia was a diversified financial services company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Before its acquisition by Wells Fargo and Company in 2008, Wachovia was the fourth-largest bank holding company in the United States, based on total asse ...

. An avid art collector, Osher also purchased the auction house,

Butterfield & Butterfield Bonhams and Butterfield was a large American auction house, founded in 1865 by William Butterfield in San Francisco. It was purchased in 1999 from Bernard Osher by online auctioneer eBay for $260 million. In 2002, it was acquired from eBay by B ...

, which became the fourth-largest auction house in the world. In 1999, he sold that company to

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became a ...

. In 2005, ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'' listed him as the 584th richest man in the world, and in 2006, 746th. Also, in the November 26, 2007 issue of ''

Businessweek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...

'', he was listed as the 11th most generous philanthropist. The article cited the $805 million that he has given to arts, educational, and social services in his life.

Philanthropy

Osher has been a notable philanthropist since 1977 when he founded the

Bernard Osher Foundation Bernard (''Bernhard'') is a French and West Germanic masculine given name. It is also a surname. The name is attested from at least the 9th century. West Germanic ''Bernhard'' is composed from the two elements ''bern'' "bear" and ''hard'' "brav ...

. The foundation is a major supporter of higher education and the arts, and Osher has consequently become known as "the quiet philanthropist." An initiative of the Foundation has funded over 120

Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes (OLLI) offer noncredit courses with no assignments or grades to adults over age 50. Since 2001 philanthropist Bernard Osher has made grants from the Bernard Osher Foundation to launch OLLI programs at 120 univers ...

at universities and colleges in the United States since 2001. His focus has been to advocate for good education, and he has funded projects in the state of Maine and his foster city, San Francisco, which involve education and the arts.Bernard Osher's Philanthropy Page

Faces of Philanthropy The face is the front of an animal's head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may af ...

, accessed December 23, 2010. Since founding the Bernard Osher Foundation, nearly 80 percent of its grants have gone to support educational programs, and seventeen percent support arts organizations. His donations have gone towards causes such as scholarships for higher education through the Osher Fellows Program, and Scholarships for University Reentry Students aged 25 to 50 under his Osher Reentry Scholarship Program. Other causes include supporting programs addressing the educational needs of seasoned adults at institutions of higher education under the

, Selected integrative medicine programs, and Arts and educational programs in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area and the State of Maine. $70 million in scholarships are given to California community college students, and $16 million worth of scholarships to the University of California at Berkeley's Incentive Awards Program, which helps poor students attend the university. Profile of a ‘Quiet Philanthropist’: Bernard Osher

The Chronicle of Philanthropy ''The Chronicle of Philanthropy'' is a magazine that covers the nonprofit world of philanthropy. Based in Washington, DC, it is aimed at charity leaders, foundation executives, fund raisers, and other people involved in philanthropy. ''The Chroni ...

, accessed December 23, 2010. In 2006, the Bernard Osher Foundation donated $723.2 million in support of these and other programs, resulting in the creation of new programs at several institutions in the United States that promote lifelong learning. This donation earned him the designation as The

Chronicle of Philanthropy ''The Chronicle of Philanthropy'' is a magazine that covers the nonprofit world of philanthropy. Based in Washington, DC, it is aimed at charity leaders, foundation executives, fund raisers, and other people involved in philanthropy. ''The Chroni ...

's third most generous donor in their annual survey of the largest donors in America. Osher plans to give away his entire fortune, as he has no heirs, but he enjoys the opportunity of helping members of several generations lead more fulfilling lives by his contributions.

Personal life

He is married to Barbro Sachs-Osher. His sister was the late

Marion Sandler Marion Osher Sandler (October 17, 1930 – June 1, 2012) was the co-CEO (with her husband Herbert Sandler) of Golden West Financial Corporation and World Savings Bank. In 2004, after 43 years running Golden West Financial Corporation, she w ...

Awards

Osher was awarded an honorary doctorate degree by

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

in 2017. Osher was also awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the

University of Massachusetts Boston The University of Massachusetts Boston (stylized as UMass Boston) is a Public university, public research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the only public research university in Boston and the third-largest campus in the five-campus Un ...

in 2015.

References

External links

Osher Foundation

* ttp://www.bowdoin.edu/news/archives/1bowdoincampus/004638.shtml Bowdoin College {{DEFAULTSORT:Osher, Bernard 1927 births Living people American billionaires Jewish American philanthropists Bowdoin College alumni 21st-century philanthropists People from Biddeford, Maine 21st-century American Jews