Hansjörg Wyss

- Joined the Giving Pledge: 12/10/2013 - Read the Letter
- Estimated Net Worth: $6.1 billion
- Forbes Rank: #196
- Industry: Medical device manufacturing
- Born: 1935
- Residence: Wilson, WY (native of Switzerland)
Hansjörg Wyss, a Swiss-trained structural engineer, attended Harvard Business School and worked in a variety if industries before founding Synthes/USA, a division of Synthes, the Swiss medical device manufacturer. Wyss would go on to become Synthes chairman, CEO and largest shareholder before selling the firm to Johnson & Johnson for $20.2 billion in 2012.
Related Foundations
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- The Wyss Foundation
- For Year Ending: 12/31/2018
- Assets: $2,410,709,102
- Giving: $146,206,336
- 990-PF and more at Foundation Directory Online
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- HJW Foundation
- For Year Ending: 12/31/2012
- Assets: $308,640,429
- Giving: $9,958,107
- 990-PF and more at Foundation Directory Online
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- The Wyss Medical Foundation, Inc.
- For Year Ending: 12/31/2018
- Assets: $58,071,706
- Giving: $3,207,523
- 990-PF and more at Foundation Directory Online
- PeaceNexus Foundation (Switzerland)
Charitable Board Service
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Grand Canyon Trust
Hansjoerg Wyss Medical Foundation
HJW Foundation
Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance
The Wilderness Society
The Wyss Foundation
Wyss Peace Foundation
PeaceNexus Foundation (Switzerland)
Online Communications
“President Thomas Jefferson reminds us: ‘There is a debt of service due from every man to his country proportioned to the bounties which nature and fortune have measured to him.’ I have been fortunate to benefit from the opportunities endowed by this nation, its land, and our world. I am determined to fill my duty to others so we may always expand the reach of human possibility and compassion.”Hansjörg Wyss
Giving Interests
Biomedicine; Education; Environment, land resources; Environment, natural resources; Family Planning; Foundations (private grantmaking); Germany; Higher education; Hospitals; Human Services; Medical Research; Reproductive health; Switzerland
News from PND
- Wyss Foundation awards $5 million to Children's Orthopaedic Center
— 07/13/20 - Premji Tops 2019 Forbes List of Biggest Philanthropic Givers
— 12/30/19 - Wyss Foundation Commits $101 Million to University of Bern
— 12/15/19 - Buffett Tops Forbes Ranking of Biggest Givers in 2018
— 11/26/19 - Harvard University Receives $131 Million From Alumnus
— 06/10/19
More News
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Next Up for This Billionaire Conservationist: Protecting the Amazon
— InsidePhilanthropy.com 11/23/2015