Cornell Icon of the Industry Awards Dinner sells out at 840; from left to right: David Skorton, President, Cornell University; Honorees Sol Kerzner, founder, CEO, and chairman of the board, Kerzner International Holdings Limited and Charles “Chuck” Feeney ’56, Director, Interpacific Group Inc.; and Michael Johnson, Dean, Cornell School of Hotel Administration. — Photo by CHR
Cornell School of Hotel Administration’s 2010 Icon of the Industry Awards Dinner, held at the American Museum of Natural History on Tuesday, June 8-left to right: Lee ’69 & Mary Pillsbury, Dean and E.M. Statler Professor Michael Johnson, Charles “Chuck” Feeney ’56 (Icon Award recipient), Cornell University President David Skorton, Jill Kobus Johnson and Cornell University President Emeritus Hunter Rawlings III. — Photo by CHR
Cornell School of Hotel Administration’s 2010 Icon of the Industry Awards Dinner was held at the American Museum of Natural History. The Museum features a full-size model of a Blue Whale suspended in the Milstein Family Hall of Ocean Life. The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH), located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world. Located in park-like grounds across the street from Central Park, the Museum comprises 25 interconnected buildings that house 46 permanent exhibition halls, research laboratories, and its renowned library. — Photo by CHR

By Jeanne Griffith | Charles F. "Chuck" Feeney '56, the man who quietly amassed an enormous fortune as a duty-free trader and then secretly gave away more than $5 billion through his charitable foundation, the Atlantic Philanthropies, stood for the cheers of his fellow Cornellians June 8 at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

More than 825 alumni and industry leaders packed the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life to pay tribute to the man whose example of world-changing philanthropy helped inspire Bill Gates and Warren Buffett in their good works. The reluctant honoree, who has never before agreed to accept public acclaim, was there to receive the Icon of the Industry Award from his alma mater, Cornell's School of Hotel Administration.

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