Dead, Not Forgotten

Saul Swimmer, film director, producer and writer had a specialty in British rock music and pop culture topics. Perhaps best known as the director of the 1972 film, The Concert for Bangladesh, Saul Swimmer worked with the Beatles (Let It Be, 1970), Queen, (We Will Rock You: Queen Live in Concert, 1982) and Herman’s Hermits (Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter, 1968), as well as being involved in a number of documentaries and dramatic titles.

If The Concert For Bangladesh is his greatest legacy, it was also the most controversial project he ever contributed to. A two concert fund raising event to benefit the suffering people of Bangladesh, The Concert For Bangladesh occurred at New York City’s Madison Square Gardens on August 1, 1971 raised nearly $250,000. The greater project, consisting of the record, film and subsequent rereleases produced a reported gross of more than 15 million U.S. dollars for Apple Records. Apple Records stated that it made no money from the project and only covered its production and advertising expenses and sued New York Magazine when they suggested otherwise. Funds from the album, CD and DVD still benefit UNICEF through George Harrison’s UNICEF Fund.

Even while 40,000 fans cheered the concerts, the stage was already set for a bad performance. The UNICEF administered funds were held in an Internal Revenue Service escrow account because the organizers of the concert did not apply for tax exempt status for the event.

The music production for the film and album documenting The Concert for Bangladesh was done by Phil Spector. The concert featured sitar great Ravi Shankar, Indian percussionist Ali Akbar Khan, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Leon Russell, Billy Preston, Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan. Fellow Beatles John Lennon and Paul McCartney decided not to perform though they were invited. John Lennon (or Yoko Ono) was off put by the contractual condition that Ono not perform with him. Paul McCartney was not comfortable with the recent legal troubles experienced by the Beatles as they dissolved the group.

The concert was inspired by Ravi Shankar who asked George Harrison how they could help the refugees displaced by the Bangladesh Liberation War. The refugee’s circumstances were made worse by the 1970 Bhola cyclone that brought torrential rains and caused devastating floods that produced a humanitarian disaster.

Born April 25, 1936 in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, Saul Swimmer died March 3, 2007 in Miami, Florida of heart and kidney failure. He was 70 years old.

For more information:
Saul Swimmer Filmography
Saul Swimmer entry from Wikipedia

Popularity: 22%

In 1999, when Builder magazine published its list of the most influential industry leaders of the 20th century, on the list were the likes of William Levitt, Frank Lloyd Wright and John Crean.

Crean, the founder of Fleetwood Enterprises, was a pioneer in the travel trailer business who built his company from a maker of Venetian blinds for travel trailers to a $3-billion-a-year enterprise that dominated the industry for many years.

One of Crean’s passions was the well being of children having contributed millions of dollars to children’s charities. Crean and his wife, Donna, lived on a 4-acre estate based upon “Tara” of “Gone With the Wind” fame that itself was an opportunity to perform charitable acts. They lived in a 4-room apartment and left the rest of the mansion and estate to support nonprofit fund raisers.

John Crean was not one to rest on his laurels though. In the 1990s John Crean and his friend Barbara Venezia co-hosted a cable-TV cooking show called “At Home on the Range.”

John Crean died on January 11, 2007 of congestive heart failure at his Newport Beach, CA home at age 81.

Read John Crean’s bio
Visit the Home On The Range website

Popularity: 19%

Larry Stewart’s life of philanthropy began before his life of wealth. In 1971, after being fired for the second year in a row the week before Christmas, Stewart sought relief at a local drive-in restaurant. There he saw a carhop working hard for little income dressed lightly in very cold weather and realized that even with his problems that others were not as fortunate as he. He gave her a twenty and said to keep the change.

Over the next 26 years Larry Stewart gave away 1.3 million dollars, often $100 at a time, to deserving people he would meet as he walked the streets of Kansas City during the holidays. He kept it all secret too until last November. After being diagnosed with esophageal cancer in April, Stewart decided it was time to reveal himself as an inspiration to others to perform random acts of kindness.

Larry Stewart died December 8, 2006 at age 58.

Popularity: 12%

Every sane person wants world peace but Sally Lilienthal did something about it. She made peace her mission when she founded the Ploughshares Fund. The fund is dedicated to preventing the spread and use of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.

An early recipient of Ploughshares Fund support was the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, a 1997 Nobel Peace Prize winner.

The fund, named from the text of the book of Isaiah in the Bible that reads, “They shall beat their swords into ploughshares…. neither shall they learn war anymore,” has awarded more than $40 million to groups and individuals since its inception in 1981. Currently the Ploughshares Fund awards 4 million each year.

Sally Lilienthal died October 23, 2006 at age 87 in San Francisco of a bone infection that led to pneumonia.

For more information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ploughshares_Fund
http://www.ploughshares.org/

Popularity: 57%