Back to Volume 11
	Doing Good Because it's Good to Do By David Finn

One of those books, entitled Henry Moore, Sculpture and Environment, consisted of photographs I took of Henry Moore sculpture in public places in 52 cities and 16 countries, with texts by Kenneth Clark and Henry Moore, as well as comments by me as the photographer. And one of those sculptures was The Arch in Columbus, Indiana, a small city that has been the beneficiary of an unprecedented gift from the largest employer in town, the Cummins Engine Company, and its chairman, J. Irwin Miller. The architectural fees for the scores of the buildings in the town were paid by the company on condition that outstanding architects, approved by a committee of internationally recognized authorities, were chosen for the assignment.

Over the years the leading architects of our time were chosen to design libraries, churches, firehouses, schools and other buildings, and the city became a mecca for great architecture. The Moore sculpture was chosen by I.M. Pei to be placed in front of a library he designed, and opposite a church across the street designed by Eliel and Eero Saarinen. This superb sculpture in its great location was a gift from J. Irwin Miller, and I was thrilled to be able to photograph it.

There were many occasions afterward in which I had a chance to get to know J. Irwin Miller and tell him how wonderful I thought his program was. Once he made a speech in Princeton, New Jersey, in which he talked about his unique architectural program, and I happened to be there at the time. At one point in his speech he said in a loud voice, "I want to make it clear that we never did anything for public relations purposes. We simply wanted the people in our town to have the benefit of great architecture. We wanted to do that because it was good to do."

Afterwards I went up to him and said, "Irwin. Doing good because it's good to do is the best public relations! So you shouldn't say you didn't do it for public relations purposes. It was the best kind of public relations." He laughed and said, "David, if you call that public relations, then I'm all for it." Over the years there have been articles all around the world about the building designed by great architects in Columbus, Indiana, but it's the excellence of the buildings themselves, not the articles about them, that has given such satisfaction to that remarkable business leader.

Top executives who want their companies to do things because they are good to do have my greatest admiration. I state that with a confession to being idealistic in my beliefs. I may be wrong about that, but since I have recently celebrated my 85th birthday, I think I have had enough experience to at least argue the case.

Occasionally, I have met a top executive who is a serious intellectual as well as a good businessman. I once interviewed Ed Land of Polaroid about his views about business and society. I had great admiration for him and was intrigued to have an opportunity to meet him. He agreed to be interviewed if I didn't bring a tape recorder, so I don't have a record of our conversation. But I found it inspirational to have a chance to talk to him and hear his views about contributing to the human experience of looking at the world in new ways.

I had a similar feeling about Thornton Bradshaw, whom I met when he was Chairman of the Board of RCA as well as Chairman of the Aspen Institute. He was clearly an intellectual, as was his wife, a professor at Columbia University. He talked about his deep sense of responsibility to the people who worked in the company as well as to the stockholders, and expressed his concern that trends in society were making it difficulty for many corporations, including his own, to be viable in the future. He was interested to know that many years ago I had also known David Sarnoff, who was the founder of RCA, and who had a similar concern about the future not only of his company but of the entire business and intellectual community.

Another top executive who has a remarkable sensitive perspective of societal needs and trends is Dan Vasella of Novartis. He was a practicing physician before he became a manager in the pharmaceutical business. When he became CEO he made it a company policy to provide life-saving medicines on a nonprofit basis in third world countries. He has also devoted himself to trying to help solve many other contemporary challenges, like the almost intractable conflict between Palestinians and Israelis. Among his many initiatives to help society address its most difficult challenges, he has worked with Seeds of Peace to bring Palestinian and Israeli teenagers together to explore new possibilities to end the conflict in the Middle East.

Paul Gottlieb was the head of the publishing company Harry N. Abrams, Inc., and a dear friend of mine. He published many of my books of photographs of sculpture, including those on Michelangelo, Bernini, Orcagna, Henry Moore, and Marino Marini. He also published a series of books I wrote entitled How to Visit a Museum, How to Look at Sculpture, How to Look at Photographs, and How to Look at Everything. Paul was an excellent businessman, and he knew how to publish highly profitable books. But he also believed his company should publish books that were important — whether or not they made money. In the many years that he headed that company he published books that have become classics in the art world — many of which sold well and many that didn't but were highly revered. He died suddenly not long ago, but I believe his legacy is being continued by his successor, Michael Jacobs.

I have known other publishers who have had the same passion. George Braziller is one of the great publishers of our time, and he takes deserved pride in his remarkable contribution to the cultural and scholarly world. I was proud that he published one of my books on the sculpture in Moissac, France, with a brilliant text by Meyer Schapiro. Thomas Neurath of Thames & Hudson is another admirable publisher, and I felt privileged to work with him and Eva Neurath on several books, including one on the English sculptor Gaudier Bzreska. They have all published books they are proud of and that make a significant contribution to the cultural and intellectual life of our time — and beyond our time. They are smart enough to also publish books that are financially successful, which enables them to continue to manage their businesses profitably. But it is thrilling to hear them talk about major books they have been proud of publishing whether or not they were profitable. Surely there are top executives in other businesses who feel as passionately as they do about the contributions to the public good they are making.

It would also be appropriate to mention that I have known a number of businessmen who made a lot of money early in their lives and afterwards, decided to devote the rest of their time to making a contribution to society. That is very different from those executives who make a lot of money and continue to want to make more.

One of those whom I admired greatly was Sam Rothberg, who made his money in the liquor business, which he sold at an early age. He completely devoted his later years to helping Israel. He was on the board of several Israel Universities — and sometimes the chairman. He developed an investment company which enabled people in the U.S. to invest in Israeli businesses and help them grow. He was a leader of the UJA (United Jewish Appeal) and one of the founders of the campaign to sell Israel Bonds. We worked together on many projects to be helpful to Israel, and he once even retained Ruder-Finn to help achieve media coverage for the remarkable work done by leading scientists on the faculty of Hebrew University. I knew Sam for many years and greatly admired him for his devotion to Israel and his commitment to contribute to the public good.

Another good friend was Maurice Strong, who in his early life made a lot of money in various business enterprises in Canada. Subsequently he became involved in the United Nations and worked as a top executive for many Secretary Generals. We became friends when Kofi Annan became Secretary General, and Maurice was appointed as Assistant Secretary General, assuming responsibilities for many of Kofi's ambitious enterprises. We worked together with Maurice on many occasions as volunteers who wished to be helpful to the United Nations.

Another good friend who followed that course in his life was Bill Golden, who made his fortune early in life and devoted his energies subsequently to the New York Academy of Science, the Natural History Museum and many other nonprofit organizations, particularly in scientific fields. Bill and I became good friends when we did some work for the New York Academy of Science, and I admired his remarkable dedication to the many organizations in which he was a major leader.

I believe that these and many other top executives have made, are making, and will continue to make significant contribution to the public good. They do so because of their convictions, their priorities, their sensitivities, and they are grateful that they can do more than making money or managing their companies. I admire their commitment to contribute something of value to society and hope there will always be people who are or have been successful business executives who feel the way they do.