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T. Denny Sanford wanted to die broke. He nearly pulled it off.<\/p>\n
The South Dakota banking magnate spent decades giving away his fortune, and by the end he had parted with more than $4 billion, $2 billion of which went to his namesake health system.\u00a0 The billionaire philanthropist died July 18 at age 90. As of March, his net worth was estimated at $2.4 billion.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to die broke,\u201d Sanford told Forbes in 2007. \u201cVery plainly, very succinctly, I look at life as an investor. What will give me or my community the best return?\u201d<\/p>\n
His donations turned a small regional hospital into one of the largest rural health-care networks in the country. That made him the \u201cgreatest philanthropist in South Dakota history,\u201d according to South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sanford gave across the state, which resulted in the Sanford Underground Research Facility, a major state asset in science and education; the Build Dakota Scholarships and the Premier\/Freedom Scholarship, which have gone to thousands of young people; the Sioux Falls Development Foundation; and the Children\u2019s Home Society of South Dakota, where he was the biggest donor, according to the governor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeyond his high-profile gifts, Denny was a key reason that Sioux Falls has such a strong culture of philanthropy, and many important community improvements benefited from his support,\u201d Lt. Governor Tony Venhuizen said in a statement. A 2024\u00a0study\u00a0by\u00a0FinancialPlanning\u00a0ranks South Dakota as the ninth-most philanthropic state in the U.S., based on philanthropic giving, volunteering, and service rates.<\/p>\n
How Denny Sanford made his fortune<\/p>\n
Sanford grew up poor in St. Paul, lost his mother to breast cancer at 4, and started working in his father\u2019s garment shop around age 8. He used to call a teenage brawl that landed him in jail\u2014and a judge who sprang him to enroll at the University of Minnesota\u2014the best thing that ever happened to him, according to a profile of him by a local publication. He went on to study there and forged a formidable career in finance afterward.<\/p>\n
Sanford\u2019s money came from a somewhat unglamorous corner of finance. He bought a Sioux Falls bank from a friend in 1986, which became First Premier Bank. He made his fortune from its credit card arm, Premier Bankcard, which issued high-interest cards to people with bad or no credit, a practice made possible by South Dakota\u2019s lenient banking laws. The business was lucrative enough to push Sanford\u2019s net worth past $3 billion, according to a local publication. \u00a0<\/p>\n
To be sure, Sanford never pretended the cards were cheap. He called them a lifeline for credit-impaired customers, who still paid $175 in fees for a $1,000 credit limit, according to the 2007 Forbes profile of Sanford.<\/p>\n
Having made his fortune, Sanford made it his mission to give it away. In 2007, Sanford handed $400 million to a small regional health provider\u2014the largest gift to a health system in U.S. history at the time. The provider took his name, and other checks built Sanford Health into a Midwest powerhouse of hospitals and clinics. His giving to the health system ultimately totaled about $2 billion.<\/p>\n
The giving spread far past the Dakotas. From La Jolla (a neighborhood in San Diego), where he later lived, Sanford poured millions into UC San Diego, the Sanford Consortium, and the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Chronicle of Philanthropy named him one of the 50 most generous philanthropists in the country, a list he made repeatedly. In 2025, he ranked No. 14 in the U.S., having donated $321 million.<\/p>\n
His record does carry a shadow. In 2020, ProPublica reported Sanford was under investigation for possible possession of child pornography. Investigators obtained search warrants, and the case was referred to the Justice Department. Unsealed court records later alleged image files tied to an email account linked to Sanford. His lawyers said others had access to his devices and cited signs of hacking. In 2022, South Dakota\u2019s attorney general declined to file charges, finding no prosecutable offenses within the state\u2019s jurisdiction. Sanford signed the Giving Pledge in 2010 and was removed from it in 2023 after the investigation.<\/p>\n
Still, Sanford leaves behind a legacy of extraordinary giving. He was long set on giving away his money while he was alive, rather than leaving it to a foundation to perpetuate his wealth.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe could have done many things with his money, yet he reinvested it in South Dakota,\u201d Premier Bankcard CEO Miles Beacom said in a statement.<\/p>\n
#die #broke #Billionaire #philanthropist #Denny #Sanford #dies #giving<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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