Aspen’s $25 million man is gone
mainMatthew Bucksbaum, whose $25 million gift created a music school, has died in Chicago. He was 87.
A self-made billionaire, Matthew was America’s second largest shopping mall owner.
Matthew and his wife, Kay, came to Aspen on their first wedding anniversary in 1953 and attended his first classical music concert. He was hooked. End of story.
“Self-made” should be retired from journalism. Someone who starts with an education at a state-subsidized university and makes a living in the government-enabled business of real estate has gotten much assistance.
Smart, clever, ambitious, industrious… certainly, but not self-made. Perhaps his philanthropic donations were recognition of that.
Good point, and the same one correctly made by President Obama and lambasted by the opposition. Everyone should think about it when they drive to the symphony, contribute to a nonprofit, or any number of routine activities. Mr. Bucksbaum’s spirit should be emulated, by billionaires and $5 contributors alike.
I’ll note that what got Obama nailed was that he took Elizabeth Warren’s bullet-proof assertion of “you got a lot of help” and flipped it into the easily-misquoted “you didn’t build that.”
Other Dems could learn a lot by how she handles that messaging stuff.