Macarthur Foundation

Source: Wikipedia.org

William T. Kirby, John MacArthur's attorney, along with Paul Doolen, MacArthur's CFO, suggested that the MacArthurs create a foundation to be endowed by their vast fortune. The legal document that created the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation was two pages long and written by Kirby in plain language.

When John D. MacArthur died on January 6, 1978, he was worth in excess of $1 billion and was reportedly one of the three richest men in the United States. MacArthur left ninety-two percent of his estate to begin the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The composition of the Foundation’s first Board of Directors, per John D. MacArthur’s will, also included Catherine T. MacArthur (his wife), J. Roderick MacArthur (a son from John D. MacArthur’s first marriage), two other officers of Bankers Life and Casualty, and Radio Commentator Paul Harvey. John D. MacArthur was politically conservative, holding views not shared by his son J. Roderick, or grandson "Rick" MacArthur, who denounced his grandfather's views as, "conventionally right wing….His ideological thoughts were primitive." By threatening to sue other board members and generate negative publicity, J. Roderick gradually forced the resignation of conservative board members and President Paul Doolen. With the resignation of conservative friends of John D. MacArthur, such as Nixon Treasury Secretary William Simon in 1981, the Foundation's focus changed to supporting liberal political causes that would have been anathema to John D. MacArthur.

Doolen was the first president of the foundation, serving from 1978 to 1980. Dr. John Corbally was the second president of the foundation, who served from 1980 until 1989. Adele Simmons was the third president of the foundation, serving from 1989 to 1999.