Fred Matser

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Person.png Fred Matser Amazon Sourcewatch TwitterRdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
Fred Matser 2008.jpg
Born1945
NationalityDutch
InterestsRewilding
"Philanthropist" who has been called "the Dutch Bill Gates".

Fred Matser is a philanthropist who has been called "the Dutch Bill Gates".[1]

His interest in the environment was first aroused in 1972 with the Club of Rome's report Limits to Growth, in which scientists warned of global exhaustion. "That's when I realized for the first time that humans are the polluter of the earth and would most likely continue to pollute without restraint," says Matser.[1]

Own words

When only in his mid-twenties he was already responsible for a staff of over 150 and a multi-million pound turnover, having been appointed Chief Executive Officer of his fathers’ real estate development company and supervising subsidiaries. He was also appointed to leadership roles in various other business and sport associations both nationally and internationally and did studies in economics and business management, as well as in parapsychology.

In 1977, his father passed away and he took over the company. A few years later, only focusing on making even more money just didn’t cut it anymore. In the Eighties, he started volunteering for the Red Cross/Red Crescent and, as a result, the family moved to Geneva, Switzerland. He became the leader of a worldwide program aimed at the reduction of child mortality and morbidity related to the diarrhea-induced dehydration. [2]

He has now been a full-time philanthropist for over forty years. He has financed many projects, from Human Rights Watch to electrical vehicle charging stations and animal rights organizations.[3] He has financed rewilding projects[4], where areas are emptied of human activity. His Stichting Bootvluchteling offers emergency aid to boat refugees landing in Greece.[5] Marjan Minnesma, co-founder and director of his Dutch Urgenda Foundation, has been named ‘most influential person in the field of sustainability’ in the Netherlands, viewing climate change as one of the biggest challenges of our times.[6]

Board positions[7]


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References

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