J. Roderick MacArthur: Difference between revisions

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Rod MacArthur filed two lawsuits in an effort to redirect the board and foundation. In February 1984 he sued fellow board members, charging that they were acting as executives of Bankers Life and were looking out for their own best interest and not the needs of the foundation. He alleged that the foundation was not managing its assets properly. MacArthur said that high fees were being paid to board members for their foundation work, and he believed that Bankers Life was not being managed well and had lost value. He requested that either the foundation be dissolved or that the court appoint a receiver to manage and sell Bankers Life.

After MacArthur blocked the sale of Bankers Life at $268 million, the board found a buyer that was willing to pay $384 million for the company.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.learningtogive.org/papers/index.asp?bpid=152&print=yes |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2006-09-22 |deadurlurl-status=yesdead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070312074758/http://www.learningtogive.org/papers/index.asp?bpid=152&print=yes |archivedate=2007-03-12 |df= }}</ref> This sale removed the Bankers Life issue from the suit. MacArthur's allegations that board members and key foundation executives were profiting at the expense of the foundation were still open.

While still on the board of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, MacArthur pushed the Board to offer the MacArthur fellowships, also called "Genius Grants".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.macfound.org/site/c.lkLXJ8MQKrH/b.959481/k.7895/Frequently_Asked_Questions.htm |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2013-10-11 |deadurlurl-status=yesdead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204053858/http://www.macfound.org/site/c.lkLXJ8MQKrH/b.959481/k.7895/Frequently_Asked_Questions.htm |archivedate=2012-02-04 |df= }}</ref>

Second, in 1980 at the urging of his son John R. "Rick" MacArthur, then 23, the senior MacArthur persuaded the Board to partner in creating and funding a Harper's Magazine Foundation, in order to acquire and operate ''[[Harper's Magazine]]'', which had been struggling financially. This new entity acquired ''[[Harper's Magazine]]'' (which was then losing nearly $2 million per year and was on the verge of ceasing publication) for $250,000. Rick (now called Roderick) MacArthur eventually took over the foundation that owned ''Harper's''.

In 1976 Rod MacArthur had used his substantial fortune from the Bradford Exchange to form his own foundation, the J. Roderick MacArthur Foundation. As of 2004, the J. Roderick MacArthur Foundation had $22 million in assets.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://macarthur.uchicago.edu/about/roderick.html |title="J. Roderick MacArthur" |accessdate=2006-09-22 |deadurlurl-status=bot: unknown |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20040224050642/http://macarthur.uchicago.edu/about/roderick.html |archivedate=February 24, 2004 |df= }}, ''The MacArthur Justice Center'', Northwestern University School of Law (archived 2004)</ref> It has supported causes of civil rights and civil liberties, including the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C., and the Roderick & Solange MacArthur Justice Center, a public interest law firm in Chicago that is named and managed by two of his children.

In 2006 the MacArthur Justice Center formed an association with the [[Northwestern University School of Law]] and has a clinic there.<ref name="northwestern.edu"/> It has opened additional centers since then: in [[New Orleans]] (2013), in [[Oxford, Mississippi]], in an association with the law school at [[University of Mississippi]] (2014); and in [[Saint Louis, Missouri]] (2016).