Billionaire Jeff Greene and wife Mei Sze Chan are Giving Pledge signatories
OHMYGOSSIP – Self made Billionaire Jeff Greene and his wife, Mei Sze Chan, are Giving Pledge signatories, so at least the half of their wealth will eventually go to philanthropy. For now, Greene’s philanthropy is hard to track, particularly because the status of the couple’s foundation is unclear.
Jeff Greene and his wife Mei Sze Chan
NET WORTH: $3.8 billion
SOURCE OF WEALTH: Real estate investments
FUNDING AREAS: Florida Community, Policy, Jewish Causes, Arts, TBD
BACKGROUND: Jeff Greene is the son of working-class parents from Massachusetts. Greene got into Johns Hopkins and worked his way through. He later traveled the country selling circus tickets to pay for Harvard Business School. He bought his first house as a grad student, renting out rooms. He had 18 properties when he graduated. Jeff Greene became a billionaire by buying credit default swaps on subprime mortgage-backed bonds as housing crashed. Most of his fortune is now held in equities and other investments plus real estate in Los Angeles and Palm Beach.
ISSUES:
FLORIDA COMMUNITY: Greene and Mei Sze founded the Greene School in Palm Beach (2001 S Dixie Hwy, West Palm Beach, FL 33401, United States), “dedicated to empowering high-performing students to be adaptive, confident and productive stewards of an evolving world.” Around 80 students attend the pre-k to 8th-grade school, which opened in fall 2016. The couple both sit on the board of the school.
Greene has given modest sums to other cultural and civic institutions in South and Central Florida, including the Everglades Foundation, and the Central Florida YMCA Foundation. Greene and Mei Sze hosted a reception of the Palm Beach Police Foundation’s Policeman’s Ball in their home. Greene sits on the board of the Palm Beach Police Foundation, whose mission includes providing scholarships and grants for police department family members.
POLICY: Greene established the Greene Institute a few years ago, which focuses on inequality, education, and health. The Greene Institute’s Closing the Gap Conference brings together high-profile academics and political leaders to discuss the importance of maintaining a skilled middle class. As Greene put it, “Unless we take action, the combination of technological trends and our ongoing failure to keep pace with competing industrialized countries in education will only accelerate the systemic fractures in our economy. This will destroy the middle class.”
JEWISH CAUSES: Grantees include Jewish Federation of Palm Beach. Jewish causes are likely a priority of Greene’s, not only because of his Hebrew-school-teacher mother but because he himself was a Hebrew school teacher, one of the many jobs he took on while putting himself through school.
ARTS: Greene also appears to have some interest in art, with steady giving to the Perlman Music Program in New York. The outfit supports young talented string players. Greene and Mei Sze are honorary chairs at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, though it’s unclear if the couple have supported that outfit financially.
LOOKING FORWARD: Though the couple’s family foundation remains opaque, they have ramped up their profile in recent years with a school and the nonprofit Greene Institute. This suggests that education and policy (particularly income inequality) could remain high priorities as the couple’s giving kicks into high gear. Another area worth keeping an eye on is health. Greene’s father repeatedly fell on hard times and died of a heart attack at age 51. Another factor here is Greene’s wife, Mei Sze, a Chinese woman who fled Malaysia to live in Australia. Perhaps some global development philanthropy will occur down the line as well.
Look also:
Who is Jeff Greene?
Jeff Greene is an American real estate entrepreneur. He is a member of the Democratic Party and was a candidate in the 2010 Senate election primaries in Florida. He was a candidate in the 2018 Florida Gubernatorial election, but was eliminated in the primary, finishing in fourth place behind eventual nominee Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, whom Greene later endorsed. Jeff Greene became a billionaire by buying credit default swaps on subprime mortgage-backed bonds as housing crashed. Most of his fortune is now held in equities and other investments plus real estate in Los Angeles and Palm Beach.
How old is Jeff Greene?
December 10, 1954
Who is Jeff Greene´s wife? Who is Jeff Greene married to?
Mei Sze Chan (m. 2007), who is twenty years his junior in age. Chan was an ethnic Chinese refugee from Malaysia who first fled to Australia with her family before heading to New York City after college.
How many children does Jeff Greene have?
3
How much is Jeff Greene worth?
3.8 billion USD
Where is Jeff Greene from? (Place of Birth)
Worcester, Massachusetts, United States
Where Jeff Greene lives?
He lives two doors down from Donald Trump in Palm Beach, owns mansions in Florida and Los Angeles, California (Palazzo di Amore). A large amount of his fortune is held in real estate.
Read also:
How Mei Sze Chan and billionaire Jeff Greene met? Their story at nytimes.com
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