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With a college background in both journalism and
education, Mr. Feinstein taught public schools in
Massachusetts and Rhode Island and established an
English school in Thailand after a private audience with
the king. He later entered the business world, starting
a financial advisory newspaper column and private
newsletter in 1974 with $500 in savings. His newsletters
went on to become among the most widely circulated in
the world, reaching a readership of over 500,000. He
credits his great circulation to a man he never met - an
Indian doctor and world traveler who liked Mr.
Feinstein's newspaper column so much that he got it
into newspapers in many countries. He has also authored
several best-selling financial guides, a novel and
several books for children. A book was written about him
and the value of his advice: The Four Treasures of Alan Shawn Feinstein, published by Prentice-Hall in
1984.
Since 1996, he has dedicated his full time to
philanthropic endeavors, focusing on the advancement of
public service and the alleviation of hunger. He founded
the World Hunger Program at Brown University, the first
university center to study and try to end the causes of
hunger, launched the World Hunger Brigade, a program
which encourages middle school students to study hunger
and design programs to fight it, the Feinstein
International Famine Center at Tufts University
which carries out projects designed to help reduce
hunger in countries around the world, and the Center for
a Hunger Free America at the University of Rhode Island.
His commitment to the schools in the State of Rhode
Island is legendary. He has dedicated millions of
dollars to its elementary and secondary schools, and to
its colleges and universities, to advance the importance
of community service in education and the values of
caring, compassion and brotherhood. He was also
instrumental in the establishment of the first public
high school ever to have community service as its
central theme and the first college program to offer a
degree in this field (the Feinstein Institute at
Providence College). His motto, " Helping to better the
lives of others is the greatest of all achievements" is
on many high schools and middle school buildings in the
state.
Among the many honors he has received are the American
Historical Society’s Distinguished Services Award, the
American Red Cross Longfellow Humanitarian Award, the
first Rhode Island Citizen of the Year Award by the
March of Dimes Foundation and the first humanitarian
award given by his hometown of Cranston. He has been
named to the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame, has
received the prestigious President’s Medal from Brown
University and Rhode Island College, and honorary
doctorate degrees from Providence College, Salve Regina
University, Johnson and Wales University, Roger Williams
University, Rhode Island College, the University of
Rhode Island and the New England Institute of
Technology. He recently founded the Citizenship Center
at the International Institute of Rhode Island, and is
honorary chairman of the International Scholar/Athlete
Games. He also has given start-up funds to over 200
houses of worship throughout the country to start food
pantries available to everyone in need in their
communities regardless of their religious affiliation.
Many schools in Rhode Island have been named for him
including the Graduate School of Johnson & Wales
University , the College of Arts and Science at Roger
Williams University, the College of Education at Rhode
Island College, the College of Continuing Education at
the University of Rhode Island and several elementary
schools and pre-schools. More recently several other
schools in Rhode Island have been named for him - the
middle school in Coventry, the Learning Academy in
Woonsocket - plus elementary schools in Nicaragua and
Kenya. With the help of the former Rhode island College
president, John Nazirian, he also recently founded the
Institute of Philanthropic Leadership at that college.
Over 100 public and parochial schools identify
themselves as 'Feinstein Leadership Schools' -
encouraging their students to share his commitment to
reaching out to help others in need. Mr. Feinstein
believes that helping to better the lives of others,
regardless of race, creed or color, is the greatest of
all achievements.
Mr. Feinstein has been married for over 40 years to Dr.
Pratarnporn Feinstein, a psychiatrist and native of
Bangkok, Thailand. They have three children Ari, Ricky,
and Leila Feinstein and four grandchildren. Though Mr.
Feinstein comes from a strictly Jewish background, his
family now consists of Christians, Muslims and Buddhists
and a mixture of all races.
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