Proving that he has not fallen to the dark side of The Force, George Lucas revealed last week that he will donate the majority of the billions of dollars he will make from the recent $4.05 billion dollar sale of LucasFilm to Disney to his education charity.
Speaking to the The Hollywood Reporter, a representative of LucasFilm stated that “George Lucas has expressed his intention, in the event the deal closes, to donate the majority of the proceeds to his philanthropic endeavors.”
It is not yet clear exactly where the money might be directed to, be it to a new foundation, the George Lucas Educational Foundation, another of the charities Lucas has supported over the years, or a combination of foundations and charities.
Lucas is currently the chairman of Edutopia, which is part of the George Lucas Educational Foundation which could be a recipient of those funds. This Foundation was the mechanism Lucas used to make a $175 million donation to USC, his alma mater, in 2006. Over the years Lucas had given generously to charities to include the Make-A-Wish Foundation and Stand Up to Cancer.
The spokesperson noted that this “announcement continues a commitment that Lucas made in 2010 to The Giving Pledge, where he stated, ‘I am dedicating the majority of my wealth to improving education. It is the key to the survival of the human race. We have to plan for our collective future — and the first step begins with social, emotional and intellectual tools we provide to our children. As humans, our greatest tool for survival is our ability to think and to adapt — as educators, storytellers and communicators, our responsibility is to continue to do so.’”
Lucas issued the following statement as well: “For 41 years, the majority of my time and money has been put into the company. As I start a new chapter in my life, it is gratifying to devote more time and resources to philanthropy.”
You can see the official Disney release on the acquisition of LucasFilm along with some words by George Lucas.
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