George Soros

George Soros, the astute businessman who founded the highly profitable Soros Fund Management LLC is also one of the world’s most active philanthropists. Born in Hungary as Gyorgy Schwartz, he immigrated to England as a boy and he changed his name to George Soros. He had witnessed the Nazi occupation of his birth country and how his Jewish family feared for their lives during the Battle of Budapest. His early childhood experiences shaped his political views and he grew up to support capitalism. He studied at the London School of Economics and became a student of the philosopher Karl Popper. After graduation he moved to New York and began a career in finance. Working for others gave him little satisfaction so he started up his own company Soros Fund Management which is today one of the most profitable hedge fund companies. He made a profit of US $1 billion during the Black Wednesday currency crisis in U.K. in 1992 by short selling. During the 1970’s he started actively becoming involved in charitable ventures and founded the Open Society Foundation to promote political causes, economic and social reforms. Till date he is reported to have donated over $8 billion for causes related to human rights, education and public health.