The 1840s were times of particular economic hardship in
Great Britain. Famine forced some two million people to
emigrate. Among them was the Carnegie family from
Dunfermline in Scotland. Andrew Carnegie was born there
on November 25, 1835 as the son of a poor handloom
weaver.

One of the era's greatest captains of industry...

In 1848, the family left their homeland in hopes of a better
future in the new world. Andrew Carnegie made this
dream come true. From the time of the American Civil War
to the turn of the century he amassed an immense fortune
- mainly in the iron and steel industry.

... and also a noble-minded benefactor

When Carnegie retired from business in 1901, he
possessed one of the largest private fortunes in the world,
which he shrewdly administered in his own bank in
Hoboken, New Jersey. Between 1901 and 1914, he
established numerous foundations and endowed these
with approximately 350 million dollars. Today, the total
worth of his investments would amount to around 3 billion
dollars.

(For more informations click http://www.carnegie.org).

Philanthropic principles

In Carnegie's day, it was quite customary for wealthy
people to set up foundations. He himself, however, was
possibly the first to publicly express the conviction that
bestowing charity was a moral obligation of the rich. "This,
then, is held to be the duty of the man of wealth ... that
after providing for the wants and needs of those
dependent upon him ... to consider all surplus revenues as
trust funds, which he is called upon to administer to
produce the most beneficial results for the community",
Carnegie wrote in his book The Gospel of Wealth in 1889.

The key moment

When in 1904 a coal mine explosion in Harwick,
Pennsylvania, claimed the lives of 178 workers, Carnegie's
attention was drawn to the courageous rescue attempts
of a miner and an engineer. Being fully aware that the
mine could collapse at any moment, both men nonetheless
managed to save the lives of many trapped miners.
Inspired by these "heroic deeds", Carnegie established in
eleven countries - among them Switzerland - foundations
to honour those selfless persons who knowingly risk their
own lives in order to save the life of another.