Kroc, 70 and worth an estimated $2.1 billion, was in a position to help. Concluding that area children "desperately needed a safe gathering place," she gave the Salvation Army $80 million to build a community center with a skating rink, Olympic-size pool and child-care facility. Says Salvation Army Major Donald C. Bell: "She told me that if you have the resources, you should give, and she hoped other notable people would follow her example." It was just one example Kroc set this year: She also gave $25 million to the University of San Diego to establish the Mohandas K. Gandhi Institute for Peace and Justice.
Kroc has practiced such generosity with growing passion since Ray, her second husband and himself a philanthropist, died in 1984. Two years later she founded Ronald McDonald House Charities, to which she has given more than $100 million. Kroc usually has a personal reason for giving. She has funded rehab programs (Ray battled alcoholism) and a nuclear-disarmament group begun by her daughter from her prior marriage, Linda Smith. But a headline can also move her: Last year, she gave $15 million to flood victims in Grand Forks, N.Dak.
"She calls out of the blue," says Father Joe Carroll, whose San Diego parish's homeless shelter has received $3.5 million. Despite Kroc's riches, he says, "she acts like one of the crowd. She's fun to be with—but never ask her for anything. She likes to pick charities and surprise them."
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
