Paul Getty
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Sir John Paul Getty KBE (September 7, 1932 – April 17, 2003) was a wealthy American-born British philanthropist and book-collector. He was the son of Jean Paul Getty, Sr. (1892-1976) -- one of the richest men in the world at the time -- and his wife Anne Rork.
The family's wealth was the result of the oil business founded by George Franklin Getty. At birth he was given the name Eugene Paul Getty, but in later life he adopted, and was better known by, the names Paul Getty, John Paul Getty and Jean Paul Getty, Jr.
His father expected him to prove himself: his first job was pumping gas for $100 a month. He attended Saint Ignatius High School and the University of San Francisco, but he did not graduate from college. He was drafted into the U.S. Army to serve in Korea.
Marriage
In 1956 he married Gail Harris, by whom he had four children: John Paul Getty III (born 1956), Aileen (born 1957), Mark (born 1960), and Ariadne (born 1962) he once said that his favourite grandson was Julius Getty. In 1959 he took control of Getty Oil's Rome division, and became addicted to both alcohol and heroin. He was a registered heroin addict in Britain for years, and drug use ended his first marriage (they divorced in 1964).
His second marriage, on December 10, 1966, was to Talitha Pol, the daughter of painter William Pol and step-granddaughter of painter Augustus John. She died of a drug overdose on July 14, 1971. This marriage produced one son, Tara Gabriel Galaxy Gramophone Getty (born 1968). He became reclusive following Talitha's death, leaving Italy and taking up residence in Chelsea, a fashionable district of London, in 1972.
Personal problems
In 1973 his son, Paul III, was kidnapped in Rome and held in the Calabrian Mountains, chained to a stake in a cave. Getty did not have enough money to pay the US$17 million ransom demand, and his father refused to help, saying "I have 14 other grandchildren, and if I pay one penny now, then I will have 14 kidnapped grandchildren."
When one of his son's ears was delivered by mail to a newspaper in Rome (delivery had been delayed by three weeks because of a postal strike), his father agreed to help out with the ransom payment. Paul III later took a mixture of prescription drugs which left him comatose for six weeks and left him paralysed and blind.
In 1976, Getty's father died, but had essentially written his son out of his will, leaving him $500. Getty's money came from a family trust and his grandmother. After his father's death, he was able to stop using drugs. Getty's daughter Aileen was married to Elizabeth Taylor's son, Christopher Wilding.
Over the next decade Getty suffered from depression and, in 1984 in a final attempt to end his drug addiction, checked himself into a London clinic. While there he received a visit from the prime minister Margaret Thatcher to thank him for his donation to the National Gallery. She reportedly helped speed his recovery by telling him, "My dear Mr. Getty, we mustn't let things get us down, must we? We'll have you out of here as soon as possible."
Philanthropy
Image:National Gallery head-on shot.jpg Getty gave over £140m to the cause of culture. The National Gallery alone received £50m from him. He was awarded a KBE in 1987, but as a foreign national could not use the title "Sir". In December 1997 he was granted British citizenship and immediately renounced his US nationality. The Queen is reported to have commented: 'Now you can use your title, that's nice.' In 1994 he married his third wife, Victoria Holdsworth, who had helped him conquer his drug addiction.
He became greatly interested in cricket after being introduced to the sport by Mick Jagger. He even built a cricket ground at Wormsley Park, his 2,500 acre (10 km²) Buckinghamshire estate. Getty also built a large library, collecting such treasures as a first edition of Chaucer, Ben Jonson's annotated copy of Spenser, and Shakespeare's First, Second, Third, and Fourth Folios. He also was President of Surrey County Cricket Club for one year, and gave money to Lord's cricket ground to build a new stand. Combining his loves of cricket and books, Getty purchased ownership of Wisden, the famous cricketing almanack.
His personal fortune was estimated as about £1.6 billion. He donated significant support for the National Gallery, the British Museum, the British Film Institute, Hereford Cathedral, and the Imperial War Museum. Some of his donations, especially a contribution towards the purchases of Canova's "The Three Graces" by The National Galleries of Scotland and "The Madonna of the Pinks" by Raphael, foiled acquisition efforts by The Getty Foundation endowed by his father. In June 2001, he gave £5 million to the Conservative Party. Getty also endowed a charitable trust that supports projects that promote the arts, conservation and social welfare.
He died in the London Clinic, after being admitted for treatment for a recurrent chest infection.