The Eccentric Billionaire: John D. MacArthur--Empire Builder, Reluctant Philanthropist, Relentless Adversary

He was hated, feared, and admired. The country's second-richest man at the time of his death, John D. MacArthur (1897-1978) also became one of its great benefactors. Every year, some two dozen American writers, artists, intellectuals, and scientists receive as much as a half million dollars in grants known as the 'genius awards' from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. But MacArthur was not the benevolent figure you might expect. Stingier than J. Paul Getty, as money-obsessed as Howard Hughes, and as ruthless as Cornelius Vanderbilt, MacArthur was one of the most multi-layered 

TIME Magazine
August 13, 2007 Vol. 170 No. 7

• COVER: The Threatening Storm - How years of misguided policies and bureaucratic bungling left New Orleans defenseless against Katrina--and why it may happen again
• SCIENCE: When Worry Hijacks The Brain - Few things imprison a mind quite like obsessive -compulsive disorder, but better treatments are breaking its hold
• The Next Nobel? - How an upstart philanthropist found a way to rev up tomorrow's hottest fields of inquiry
• ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT: How the Bourne Boys Keep it Real - Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass find gritty truth in a summer action franchise