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Businessman Harold Taussig makes millions ... and gives it all away.

"I’m ready for the day when the fact that we’re all made in the image of God is the norm for all humanity."

One of the primary themes of both the Old and the New Testament is the need to care for the poor. Most of us seem to take the Bible seriously on this point – to some extent. And then, there’s Harold.

“I’m Harold Taussig, and I attend the First United Methodist Church in Media, Pennsylvania.”

Harold Taussig is the kind of person who takes personal commitments very seriously. He makes lots of money, but has decided that others need that money a lot more than he does.

“We can lead richer lives without getting more things in our lives.”

Harold is committed to finding ways for his money to help other people in their lives. The Rev. Maridel Whitmore is pastor of Harold’s church. She says the congregation learns a lot from this businessman.

“Here’s a person that’s doing what we preach. He made us all straighten up a little bit and take a look at ourselves. This is what Harold’s doing; maybe we should be following his example – he’s a marvelous example.”

Now in their 80’s, Harold and his wife, Norma, are the proprietors of a travel company called Untours. The company was an outgrowth of the way Harold and Norma liked to travel – to stay in an apartment or a home in a European village and to get to know the people. For a brief time, Harold was a college professor, and he came up with a way for other academics to take sabbatical time in Europe – not to tour, but to find a nice place to just live there for awhile. The business became popular with people from many careers, not just teachers. Untours started to make good money.

Norma says almost all the profits from the business – more than five million dollars so far – has gone into the Untours Foundation.

“We gave through our church, and then as the years went by, and we went into business, we decided that it was more important to give to the poor than it was to put it into ‘things.' And then when we went into the travel business that we’re in now, Harold’s main interest was in giving to the poor. And that’s when the foundation was formed and he began to give all the profits of the business.”

Hal’s desire is that society finds sustainable ways to help the poor.

"Not by charity or band-aids, not to make people just get out of a temporary situation, but to try to find the solution for poverty, which will be a change in our own culture. And I think it will enrich our lives too, as well as the poor.”

The profits from Untours go to organizations that help the poor start their own enterprises, to create their own ways to be successful. In 1999, Untours was named "The Most Generous Business in the U.S." by George Magazine and Newman's Own. Harold was handed his award by John F. Kennedy Jr. and Paul Newman.

Harold’s company employs several family members. One of them is Marilee, one of their daughters. Marilee won’t receive the kind of inheritance she would if the money stayed in the company, but she knows she will be left something else very precious.

“If he decided to leave all his money to his children, I wouldn’t argue a bit. I’d be happy to have it. I’m not quite the saint, maybe, that my dad is, but he continues to reach out to different kinds of people, and I think that lasts longer than money.  And he also taught me to walk the talk, and to make my own way. That’s more inheritance than many people get from their dads.”

Harold Taussig actually leaves something for all of us. He leaves us an example of someone who really acts much like Jesus suggested – caring for his neighbors, and not worrying about his own needs.

“This is what God wanted me to do, that it seemed so true to me that why would anybody want more than he needed?  Why would anybody want any more than I have right now?”

Why, asks Harold, would anyone want more than he or she needs?  A question for all of us to consider.

The following people contributed to this Profile: 
Audio and print story by Mike Hickcox; videography by Jim Melchiorre.

UMC.org Profiles are produced by Pam Price, 615-742-5405.

Harold's Spiritual Gifts

• Servanthood
• Knowledge
• Wisdom
• Prophesy

Learn more about your spiritual gifts

Harold's Recommended Resources

Finding God in Unexpected Places by Philip Yancey

Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis

Jesus Before God by Hal Taussig

Living Faith by Jimmy Carter

The Tragedy of American Diplomacy by William Appleman Williams

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