Bringing it to the table

Warren E. Buffett wears rumpled suits, drives his own car and drinks Cherry Coke. He also used to be the second-richest person in the world, worth $44 billion. Sunday, he announced he was giving away $37 billion of his fortune. After the giveaway, he'll be about the world's 60th richest person.

For those keeping score at home, he'd still be the 30th richest American.

Walk this way

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According to most reports, Mr. Buffett is just like you and me, except that he's worth the equivalent of the gross domestic product of several small countries.

He's 75 years old and was married more than 50 years to his late wife, Susan, who died in 2004. He lives with long-time companion Astrid Menks, who was a waitress in Omaha, Neb., at the French Cafe, which has been called that city's "crown jewel and a port of call for the rich and famous" by the Midlands Business Journal.

It was Mr. Buffett who said, "I always knew I was going to be rich. I don't think I ever doubted it for a minute."

He also said, "Rule No. 1: Never lose money. Rule No. 2: Never forget rule No. 1."

A lost shaker of salt

He is not believed to be related to musician Jimmy Buffett. But Warren's sister, Doris, has tried for 20 years to find a genetic link. Jimmy calls him "Uncle Warren" and Warren calls him "Cousin Jimmy."

They did travel together in 1983 to Norfolk Island in the South Pacific, which has a large population of Buffetts, who are descendants of men who participated in the 1789 mutiny aboard the HMS Bounty.

And Cousin Jimmy wrote a 2003 song having to do with Uncle Warren. Part of the ditty goes, "I bought Berkshire way back when it was cheap. I bought Berkshire way back then and I do nothing but keep...it."

Berkshire Hathaway, a diversified company with major interests in GEICO, life insurance, annuities and jewelry, is Uncle Warren's company. Subsidiaries include Fruit of the Loom, Dairy Queen, See's Candies, Borsheim's Fine Jewelry and World Book. Its 2005 net income was $8.5 billion.

Cousin Jimmy bought his first shares in 1989. As of Monday, the stock was selling at about $91,500 per share. The per-share price dropped $600 that day on news of Uncle Warren's largess.

Charity begins at home

Mr. Buffett's money is going to five foundations, one of which is named for his late wife and three of which are run by his children. But $30.7 billion of the total goes to what is already the world's largest charitable foundation, which happens to be run by the world's richest man, Bill Gates, and his wife, Melinda.

Mr. Gates and Mr. Buffett are friends. They travel together and play on-line bridge. Mr. Gates is on the board of Mr. Buffett's company. The donation means that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will immediately double its endowment to nearly $60 billion.

For some perspective ...

The country's second-largest charity, the Ford Foundation, has an endowment less than one-fifth the size of the Gates foundation. The Wall Street Journal reports that the United Nations and its agencies spend $12 billion a year. Local philanthropist Andrew Carnegie's gifts during his lifetime, even when adjusted for inflation, came to less than $8 billion. Last year's single largest gift in the country was $404 million from the late Cordelia Scaife May's estate, which was spread among numerous charities and foundations.

To maintain status as a charitable foundation, charities must donate at least 5 percent of their assets annually. For now, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, with assets of about $27 billion, has been giving $1.3 billion away.

With Mr. Buffett's money, the Gates foundation will now have $2.8 billion annually to fiddle with, disbursing it at the rate of $90 per second.

He came by it honestly

As a kid, Mr. Buffett sold soda pop door-to-door. He bought his first stock at 11 and 1,200 acres of farmland when he was 14, which he rented out. As a paperboy in Washington, D.C., in the 1940s, he earned $175 a month running five routes. Harvard Business School turned him down but he went on to graduate from Columbia Business School.

Between 1950 and 1956, he grew his savings of $9,800 to $140,000. Between 1957 and 1969, a $10,000 investment with Mr. Buffett's partnerships would've produced $150,270 after his fee was deducted. He gained control of Berkshire Hathaway in the 1960s. It now has 180,000 employees.

Future shock

Bill Gates says the Buffett money will be used to seek cures for the world's worst diseases. According to two University of Chicago researchers, the foundation could spend Mr. Buffett's money and earn a lot of cash for the country if it helps find a cure for cancer.

As reported in a recent study in the Journal of Political Economy, the researchers said a 1 percent reduction in mortality from cancer would be worth $500 billion to the U.S. in reduced health care costs and extended productivity. The financial reward of a cure for cancer? That's estimated at $50 trillion.

For those keeping score at home, that would be priceless.

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Correction/Clarification: (Published June 29, 2006) Warren Buffett's wife, Susan, died in 2004. That was originally omitted in this Morning File as published on June 28, 2006 describing the investor's marriage and his late wife's foundation.