"'Quietly Philanthropic' Tycoon Makes His Mark in the West"

"A Swiss billionaire is forging a conservation legacy across the western United States and having an outsized influence on federal policies.

His name: Hansjorg Wyss.

The media-shy 79-year-old built a $6 billion fortune manufacturing medical devices, and he's pledged to give more than half of it away to preserve the American West, among other philanthropic pursuits.

Hansjorg Wyss (pronounced 'Hans-yorg Wees') and his nonprofit, the Wyss Foundation, have so far donated more than $350 million to acquire land and buoy dozens of green groups molding lands policy in Washington, D.C., and Western communities."

Phil Taylor reports for Greenwire March 24, 2015.

[Ed. Note: A major grant from the Wyss Foundation made possible a 2015 expansion of SEJ's Fund for Environmental Journalism.]