Fred Stanback


Fred Stanback is a billionaire and philanthropist from the United States. Stanback inherited a large fortune from his family's headache powder business. Stanback has donated large sums of money to environmental groups but has also funded anti-immigration groups because of his concerns about over-population. He was born in and resides in North Carolina.

Wealth

Stanback was heir to a substantial interest in the Stanback Company, famous for its headache powders. Stanback served as treasurer and chairman of the board before his 25% share in the company was purchased by William Stanback, Jr. Stanback resigned from these positions but continued on with the company to manage its pension fund.
Stanback was a classmate of Warren Buffett at Columbia Business School. He later served as best man at Buffett's wedding. Stanback was part of the second wave of the "Buffett Bunch," early investors with Buffett who generally made extremely high returns. Stanback placed $125,000 under Buffett's management in 1962. Stanback partnered with Buffett and other investors to buy the Washington Monthly.

Environmentalism and anti-immigration activism

Stanback is described as being an "anti-humanist" environmentalist. Stanback gives to the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council on a regular basis. He also offers substantial support to regional environmental groups such as the Southern Environmental Law Center and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. Stanback donated to support environmental programs at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and Catawba College, and an internship program at his alma mater, Duke University.
Duke removed four anti-immigrant groups from the internship program supported by Stanback after their inclusion became a public controversy. The program was established in 1995 at the behest of Stanback at Duke's Nicholas School for the Environment. Stanback approves all the organizations personally. The Federation for American Immigration Reform, the Center for Immigration Studies, NumbersUSA, and Progressives for Immigration Reform were the programs that Duke removed. Stanback said he had met with the leaders of these groups and did not detect any hint of racism about them.
Stanback has donated at least hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Federation for American Immigration Reform, founded by John Tanton. Stanback gave $100,000 to Americans for Better Immigration. ABI was founded by Roy Beck, a close associate of John Tanton. Stanback provided Beck with $32,000 for an anti-immigration video project. Stanback has donated to English Language Advocates, a group that supports making English the official language of the United States.
Stanback gave the American Immigration Control Foundation $5,000 to buy and disseminate the book The Camp of the Saints, which has become a canonical text, along with the neo-Nazi book The Turner Diaries, among white supremacists and other racists. It was written in 1973 by the French monarchist and travel writer Jean Raspail and shows how third-world immigration supposedly would destroy western civilization.

Foundation for the Carolinas

Much of Stanback's philanthropy is managed by the Foundation for the Carolinas, a donor-advised fund. The foundation has been criticized for its ties to Stanback. During 2014, Stanback donated Berkshire Hathaway shares worth about $400 million to the foundation.
Frank Sharry, executive director of pro-immigration America's Voice, wrote in a letter to the Foundation for the Carolinas, "Mr. Stanback has a long history of supporting groups and individuals who believe that immigrants are inherently inferior and that drastic steps are needed to control global population growth.”

Funding against the renewable wood bioenergy industry

Stanback has donated at least $300 million to a range of groups campaigning against the renewable wood bioenergy industry on the premise that it facilitates global warming. These groups include the Natural Resources Defense Council, 350.org, the Partnership for Policy Integrity, the Southern Environmental Law Center, and the Dogwood Alliance.
The Southern Environmental Law Center received $175 million. The National Resources Defense Council received $81 million. 350.org received $4 million in 2018.

Litigation against Smithfield Foods

In early 2020, Stanback was criticized for allegedly funding litigation against Smithfield Foods by the head of the National Pork Council, Andy Curliss. Stanback funds the Environmental Working Group and the Waterkeeper Alliance. Both groups have a history of attacking Smithfield Foods and the pork industry in general.

Southern Environmental Law Center

As of 2020, Stanback served on the board of trustees of the Southern Environmental Law Center and was a member of its President's Council.

Recognition

In 2008, Stanback and his wife, Alice, received the North Carolina Award, the state's highest civilian honor, for their public service.

Charitable giving

In January 2020, Catawba College announced that it had received a gift from Stanback and his wife. They donated $1 million into scholarships for students majoring in humanities, the environment and sustainability, and education for a total gift of $3 million. As of 2020, Stanback served on the college's board of trustees.