Without Walter Haefner, Smile Train wouldn’t exist today.

And 1,500,000 children would be walking around with unrepaired clefts.

Mr. Haefner was our very first and most important major donor – he made Smile Train possible.

His generous start-up donation of $35 million supported us for our first five years. This gave us the time and opportunity to acquire hundreds of thousands of other donors.

After his start-up donation, Mr. Haefner continued to support Smile Train with generous yearly donations. His total support exceeded $50 million which would have paid for cleft surgery for more than 200,000 children.

Mr. Haefner was a self-made billionaire that built an empire that included one of the largest car dealerships in Switzerland, a majority interest in a billion dollar software company and a champion horse stable in Ireland.

I never had the privilege of meeting Mr. Haefner as he lived in Switzerland and was somewhat of a recluse. But we used to correspond a lot. In addition to thanking him for his generous donations, I always kept him up to date on our progress and results.

He once sent me a personal note that said of all the accomplishments in his very storied and successful life, helping us start Smile Train was the one thing he was most proud of. That meant a lot to me and our small team of 20 or so people who worked at Smile Train.

When Mr. Haefner passed away in 2012, I was honored to be invited to his funeral in Zurich and thankful to have the opportunity to pay my last respects.

He was a very kind, successful man whose philanthropy changed millions of lives.

Including mine.