Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his fiancée Lauren Sánchez are awarding $50 million each to Bill McRaven, a retired Navy admiral and former chancellor of the University of Texas System, and actor and entrepreneur Eva Longoria as part of Bezos’ annual prize to individuals who make significant contributions to society.
The annual Bezos Courage and Civility Award has been handed out since 2021 and is given to people who try to find solutions to complicated problems, attempt to be uniters and embrace civility. The Amazon founder is the second richest person on the planet, behind only LVMH boss Bernard Arnault, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, and his fortune totals about $200 billion.
In 2021, the inaugural recipients of the prize were Van Jones, a lawyer and CNN commentator, and chef José Andrés, each of whom received $100 million. Entertainer and philanthropist Dolly Parton was the 2022 recipient; there was no 2023 award.
In a statement, McRaven said he wants to use the gift to focus on three areas: educating the children of deceased veterans, particularly in the special operations community; the mental health and brain performance of veterans; and helping to develop future military leaders through education.
McRaven and his wife are on the board of the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. They also serve as national spokespeople for the Brain Health Project, which focuses on brain health and brain performance with a concentration on veterans.
“The opportunity to use this incredible gift to help veterans and their families is the dream of a lifetime and I am so grateful to Lauren and Jeff for giving me this opportunity,” McRaven said in a statement to CNN.
