Irwin Jacobs

Irwin Jacobs cofounded mobile chipmaker Qualcomm in 1985, but, since retiring from its board in 2012, has been focused on giving away his fortune.The Giving Pledge signatory has donated $100 million to save the San Diego Symphony and $185 million to UC-San Diego.In 2013 he and his wife, Joan, pledged $133 million to create the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Innovation Institute on New York's Roosevelt Island.He taught electrical engineering and computer science at MIT, then UCSD, before cofounding LINKABIT Corporation, which developed satellite systems.He launched Qualcomm 17 years later and was CEO until 2005, overseeing the development of technologies that revolutionized wireless communication.