Tribute to T. Boone Pickens

“For most of my adult life, I’ve believed that I was put on Earth to make money and be generous with it.” – T. Boone Pickens. Generous Indeed. IEEW remembers Mr. Pickens to be that and so much more. In 2007, IEEW and the PEACE THROUGH BUSINESS® program was honored to have the T. Boone Pickens Foundation as a presidential sponsor, spreading the Pickens entrepreneurial spirit to women around the world. The Pickens Foundation continued to give to IEEW over the years, contributing a total of $610,000 towards the education and empowerment of women entrepreneurs in Afghanistan and Rwanda. Mr. Pickens was asked to take the Giving Pledge in 2010 to commit the majority of his wealth to philanthropy and of course he agreed, accelerating his long-existing practice of generosity.

In a final letter reflecting on his long life, Mr. Pickens states, “I left a passion for entrepreneurship, and the promise it sustains. I left the belief that future generations can and will do better than my own.” He left a legacy of giving and using his successes to advance opportunities for others. These are the values that IEEW and the graduates of the PTB program uphold, and they are the values that promise more prosperous and peaceful communities.