Paris Hilton’s grandfather to leave most of his fortune to charity

12/26/2007

By Susannah Rosenblatt,
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
December 26, 2007


Hotel magnate Barron Hilton, grandfather of heiress Paris Hilton, has bequeathed $2.3 billion, or 97% of his net worth, to his father's charity foundation, officials said today.

The contribution to the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, to come from the sale of Hilton Hotels Corp. and the pending sale of Harrah's Entertainment Inc. after the money is placed in a trust, is the largest in the foundation's history and will bring its value to about $4.5 billion.

Barron Hilton, 80, pledged an immediate $1.2-billion donation to the foundation, with an estimated $1.1 billion to follow after his death. He is the foundation's chairman.

"We are all exceedingly proud and grateful for this extraordinary commitment," Hilton's son Steven M. Hilton, president and chief executive of the organization, said in a statement. "Working to alleviate human suffering around the globe, regardless of race, religion or geography, is the mandate of the foundation set by my grandfather . . . .and now reinforced by my father."

Hotelier Conrad Hilton, Barron's father and Steven's grandfather, established the charity in 1944 and left nearly all his fortune to the organization when he died in 1979.

The charity has distributed $560 million over more than six decades for programs to aid the blind, house mentally ill homeless individuals, prevent substance abuse and increase access to safe water in Africa and Mexico. A significant portion of the money helps the work of Catholic Sisters; more than half the foundation's grants go to international projects.

The Hilton hotel chain consists of more than 500 hotels around the world. The family name has become gossip column fodder in recent years with the sex tape, red carpet antics and jail time of socialite and entrepreneur Paris.