WASHINGTON — Friends describe the late billionaire philanthropist Joan B. Kroc as a news junkie who woke up each morning before sunrise to read Internet news sites and catch up on world events.
After a life of soaking up the news, Kroc left National Public Radio a bequest of more than $200 million, NPR said Thursday. That's more than double the network's annual budget.
NPR President Kevin Klose said Thursday it was the biggest event for the network since it broadcast its first show in May 1970.
"We are inspired and humbled by this tremendous gift," he said at a news conference. "This is not about dollars and cents, it's about her vision for NPR."
Kroc died of cancer Oct. 12 at 75. The exact amount of her bequest will depend on the resolution of her estate and the value of her investments, though NPR officials said the gift could approach $220 million.
Kroc, the widow of McDonald's restaurant founder Ray Kroc, was known for giving away hundreds of millions of dollars to promote world peace, education, health care and the arts. She was a longtime donor to her local NPR member station, KPBS in San Diego, and left an additional $5 million to the station.
"She wanted to make a difference in the biggest possible way," said Stephanie Bergsma, a longtime friend who met Kroc two decades ago through the San Diego station.
"She had the most voracious appetite for news," Bergsma said, adding that Kroc followed NPR's coverage of the war in Iraq closely. "She covered everything."
Longtime NPR special correspondent Susan Stamberg said she was "rendered almost speechless" by the size of the donation, joking she would change her name to "McStamberg."
Best known for its daily news programs "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered," NPR also presents music and cultural programming to an estimated 22 million listeners.
NPR derives about half of its $100 million annual budget from member station payments based on the size of local station audiences. A quarter of the budget comes from foundation grants, another 23 percent from corporate underwriting and about 2 percent as grants from federally funded organizations.
Klose said NPR typically has a hand-to-mouth relationship with its member stations and donors. NPR broke even last year after losing $4 million in 2001, spokeswoman Laura Gross said.
About $175 million of Kroc's gift will become part of an endowment fund created in 1993 to offset periodic drops in revenue. With the bequest, the fund's total will leap past $225 million, leading NPR officials to anticipate $10 million in annual revenue from the fund. The other $25 million from Kroc's bequest will go into NPR's operating reserves.