Hotel magnate Hilton to leave $2.3 billion to charity

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Hotel magnate Barron Hilton will give $2.3 billion, the bulk of his fortune, to charity, officials said Wednesday. Hilton, the 80-year-old grandfather of Paris Hilton, bequeathed the money to the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, a charity founded by his father in 1944. "We are all exceedingly proud and grateful for this extraordinary commitment," Hilton's son Steven M. Hilton, president and chief executive of the foundation, said in a statement. "Working to alleviate human suffering around the globe, regardless of race, religion or geography, is the mandate of the foundation set by my grandfather ... and now reinforced by my father." The funds will come from the sale of the Hilton Hotels Corp. to The Blackstone Group, and the pending sale of Harrah's Entertainment.