ANDREW CARNEGIE - INDUSTRIALIST AND PHILANTHROPIST

BIJELJINA, AUGUST 10 /SRNA/ – American industrialist Andrew Carnegie /1835–1919/, who devoted a vast fortune to charitable causes, mainly the establishment of public libraries in the United States and other countries, on the condition that local authorities provide land for the buildings and ensure their maintenance, died on August 11, 1919.

He retired from business in 1901, 18 years before his death, and in 1900 published The Gospel of Wealth, with thesis “the rich man dies shamefully”.

In 1926, the Carnegie Foundation donated $100,000 for the construction of the University Library in Belgrade.

Carnegie devoted much of his life to philanthropic activities, paying particular attention to local libraries, world peace, education and scientific research.

He built Carnegie Hall and established the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Carnegie Institution for Science and Carnegie Mellon University.

His life is often cited as an illustration of the rags-to-riches success story.

In 2007, Forbes estimated Andrew Carnegie’s wealth at the time of his death in 1919 at $298.3 billion in today’s dollars, making him one of the wealthiest Americans as well as one of the richest people in history.