In today’s dollars, that is $2.9 billion.Īnd today, 20 years later, 26 grand, state-of-the-art Kroc centers have opened in places as varied as Ashland, Ohio Guayama, Puerto Rico and Quincy, Illinois. When she died in 2003, Joan Kroc stunned the Salvation Army when she left what amounted to $1.8 billion - roughly half her fortune -with instructions to carry out her wish for the centers. That was the vision of Joan Kroc, billionaire philanthropist and heiress to the McDonald’s fortune of her husband, Ray.
By LISA NAPOLI of The Chronicle of Philanthropyįirst-class recreation centers in low-income neighborhoods - dozens of them, scattered around the nation.
