Paul Allen, who died in 2018, was an entrepreneur, business tycoon, and co-founder of Microsoft Corporation. Much of his fortune was donated during his lifetime through his Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, to which he gave $30 million annually. He also sponsored the Paul G. Allen Center for Computer Science and Engineering, which opened in 2003 and to which he donated $14 million.

Allen was regularly listed in Forbes magazine as one of the world’s richest people. It is estimated that, at his death, his fortune amounted to $17.5 billion. When he was being treated for his illness, he declared that, when he died, most of his fortune would go to charity.