Wealthy philanthropist and megadonor Foster Friess died Thursday at 81.
The former asset manager was a large donor to Republican politicians and conservative causes, including Turning Point USA, the Daily Caller, and Rick Santorum’s 2012 presidential campaign. In 2013, he received an award for conservative philanthropy at the Conservative Political Action Conference. He donated more than $500 million throughout his life, according to his family.
Friess was also an avowed evangelical Christian.
“It’s the Lord’s money. I know that. If it was mine, you wouldn’t be getting one dead red cent,” he joked at CPAC in 2013.
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Born in Wisconsin in 1940, Friess was the first in his family to graduate from college at the University of Wisconsin and had a six-year military career as an Army intelligence officer before he made his multimillion-dollar fortune.
After years of being in the donor class, Friess flirted with becoming a politician himself. He floated a primary challenge to Wyoming Republican Sen. John Barrasso, and in 2018, Friess ran for governor of Wyoming but was defeated in the primary.
Republican politicians showed an outpouring of tributes upon the announcement of his death.
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There will be three memorial services across the country in Arizona, Wyoming, and Wisconsin.
