--- description: The founder of the Buffalo Bills died in March. title: Buffalo Bills Founder's Foundation to Give Away $1.2 Billion image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd3e70ac36537ce2e/69885c1d428a9e3396cce4d7/ralph-c-wilson.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Sports](/section/sports/) ## Sports Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Football](/tag/football/) ## Football Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Buffalo Bills Founder's Foundation to Give Away $1.2 Billion  by [Tanya Basu](/author/tanya-basu/)  ## Tanya Basu Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 22, 2015 11:12 PM CUT  Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson gestures during a news conference in Tampa, Fla. on Jan. 31, 2009. Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson gestures during a news conference in Tampa, Fla. on Jan. 31, 2009.Chris O'Meara—AP  by [Tanya Basu](/author/tanya-basu/)  ## Tanya Basu Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 22, 2015 11:12 PM CUT The Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation, named after the founder of the Buffalo Bills football franchise, will launch later this year with the goal of giving $1.2 billion to charity, according to trustees of the organization. Wilson, originally from Detroit, sold the team for $1.4 billion in 2014 and died at the age of 95 in March of this year. Throughout his life, he also owned manufacturing, mining, insurance and other businesses. The foundation will focus on “five pillars”: healthy lifestyles, youth development, caregivers, community development, and economic growth; the foundation will target Wilson’s hometown of Detroit and surrounding areas along with his adopted town of Buffalo, NY, and its surrounding vicinity, [reported The Detroit _News_](http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2015/07/22/ralph-wilson-foundation-dedicates-mich-ny/30510249/ "undefined"). Over the past 20 years, Wilson had amassed $1.2 billion for the foundation through an irrevocable trust; $60 million in grants will be available in 2015. “Ralph saw firsthand the impact of his generosity in his lifetime,” Mary Wilson, his widow, said. “Always thinking of others even in his own legacy, his hope with this trust was that the foundation’s work may make a direct impact in the lifetimes of those who knew him best.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3968943/ralph-wilson-foundation/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3968943/ralph-wilson-foundation/"},"headline":"Buffalo Bills Founder's Foundation to Give Away $1.2 Billion","datePublished":"2015-07-22T23:12:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T09:30:10.888Z","description":"The founder of the Buffalo Bills sold the team in 2014 for $1.4 billion","url":"https://time.com/3968943/ralph-wilson-foundation/","keywords":["Football","Sports topic","Charity","Business topic","philanthropy"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd3e70ac36537ce2e/69885c1d428a9e3396cce4d7/ralph-c-wilson.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tanya Basu","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/"}],"articleSection":"Sports","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd3e70ac36537ce2e/69885c1d428a9e3396cce4d7/ralph-c-wilson.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson gestures during a news conference in Tampa, Fla. on Jan. 31, 2009.","caption":"Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson gestures during a news conference in Tampa, Fla. on Jan. 31, 2009.","creditText":"Chris O'Meara—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/football/","name":"Football"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3968943/ralph-wilson-foundation/","name":"Buffalo Bills Founder's Foundation to Give Away $1.2 Billion"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Billion Dollar Business of Fantasy Football","description":"From fantasy tv channels to ‘expert analysis,’ fantasy football employs a lot of people — and that number of people is only overshadowed by the amount of participants.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/DWRPL0U3/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-09-03T19:16:30.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/DWRPL0U3.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3968943/ralph-wilson-foundation/","duration":"PT2M2S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3968943/ralph-wilson-foundation/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```