"The man who dies ... rich, dies disgraced."  Scottish immigrant, steel magnate, and one of America's wealthiest men, Andrew Carnegie believed in giving back.  Carnegie and his family came to the United States from Scotland in 1848.  The family struggled, but twelve-year-old Andrew was industrious and highly motivated.  He worked his way from "bobbin boy" at a local cotton mill in Pennsylvania to telegraph operator for the railroads to investor in steel and then Industrial Titan. Carnegie pioneered steel mills and eventually controlled the all-important late nineteenth-century steel industry. 

He made a fortune, but did not seek immense wealth for personal use.  He had a strong sense of civic duty and, in his "Gospel of Wealth,"  urged all who had been blessed with riches to spend them on behalf of others. (His employees wish he had spread more of his wealth to them!) He became America's most renowned philanthropist, eventually giving away more than $350,000,000 (that's billions in today's dollars).  Carnegie wanted the doors of knowledge open to all, and he specialized in founding libraries (2,509 libraries!) across the country.  But in addition, he funded Carnegie Hall, Carnegie Mellon University, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Carnegie Institute for Science, and the Carnegie Hero Fund.  The medal he designed to award to his own heroes (named by the Carnegie Hero Fund) bore the inscription of John 15:13 on the outer edge: "Greater love hath no man than this: that a man lay down his life for his friends."