‘Vanity Fair’: Irene Diamond’s Gifts

Irene Diamond spent a decade giving away all the money in the foundation she and her late husband, Aaron, created. But just because the foundation shut down in 1996 doesn’t mean that Ms. Diamond has stopped being one of New York City’s most powerful philanthropic forces, says Vanity Fair (December).

Wynton Marsalis, artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, told the magazine Ms. Diamond is respected because “she wants to make sure that she can really make a difference for people who are struggling to accomplish something.”

The Aaron Diamond Foundation was perhaps best known for its financing of research and prevention efforts to combat AIDS. Now that Ms. Diamond is channeling her giving through a smaller fund that bears her name, that disease continues to be her biggest concern, but she is also now putting a lot of her money and volunteer time into fighting gun violence. Championing both causes has caused her to be at the center of numerous controversies, but she says that at age 90 she doesn’t care: “Once you’re my age, you stop being afraid of anybody and anything. What’s the point?”