Mark Cuban and The Fallen Patriot Fund
Billionaire and entrepreneur Mark Cuban’s story is one of the prime examples of the rags-to-riches type of tales. And rise to riches he did with flair. Though most people know Mark Cuban as the owner of NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, people should also know that he has a good side and a big heart.
After the September 11 attacks and United States’ active participation in the second war against Saddam Hussein and Iraq, US military casualties were piling up. Though many groups advocated and rallied to support US troops, only a meager few thought about the families and loved ones who were left behind. Cuban, together with his wife, created the Fallen Patriot Fund to provide financial and other forms of support to the families of US soldiers and other military personnel who were killed or gravely injured in Iraq.
The Fallen Patriot Fund receives most of its finances from the Mark Cuban Foundation. As of late, the Fallen Patriot Fund has given away more than $3,540,053 worth of financial aid. Cuban is very passionate about this particular venture, stating that such effort of his is a personal matter to him and his wife, though he does not know any US soldiers personally.
Mark Cuban entered the world of business selling garbage bags at the young age of 12 to raise the money he needed to buy an expensive pair of athletic shoes. The son of a car upholsterer, Cuban worked his way through college.
Mark Cuban’s partnership with Todd Wagner, a fellow Indiana University alumnus, marked both men’s entry to the World Wide Web with the creation of Audionet in 1995.
A wise Mark Cuban then diversified the profits from the sale to shield himself in case of a market crash, which eventually happened during the dot-com bubble burst.
Today, Mark Cuban is listed as one Forbe’s richest people in the world, with a net worth of $2.8 billion as of 2007. Cuban is now involved with the film industry, actively participating in the activities of 2929 Entertainment, a movie enterprise he created with Todd Wagner, and Landmark Theaters, a chain of 58 arthouse movie theaters. Mark Cuban is also the Chairman of HDNet.
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