Philanthropist Profile: Philanthropic Innovation from the Hot Pockets of Paul Merage
How does an entrepreneur give back with the same pioneering spirit of innovation that helped them build their career? Paul Merage is an Iranian-American who has blazed new paths in business and philanthropy. One of the inventors of Hot Pockets microwaveable snacks, Paul and his brother, David Merage, founded Chef America which they sold to Nestlé in 2002 for $2.6 billion.
Paul currently serves as Chairman of Falcon Investment Management, a private investment management firm; Stoneridge Capital Partners, engaged in commercial real estate investments; and Silverpoint Investments, a private-equity capital company. He is also Founder and President of the Merage Foundations, a Trustee of the University of California, Irvine, and serves on the Boards of the Orange County Performing Arts Center and the Pacific Symphony. In 2005, Paul Merage donated $30 million to the School of Business at the University of California, Irvine, which was renamed the Paul Merage School of business in his honor.
Merage says he created the Hot Pocket in the early 1980s because he saw two large trends coalescing: More women were going to work, and the microwave had the potential to save them time, if only someone could figure out how to make a hand-held sandwich that tasted good and wasn't soggy. After two years of research, Hot Pocket's signature "crisping sleeve" solved the problem. When he switched gears to philanthropy, he began aiming for the charitable equivalent of the Hot Pocket. "I knew that I wanted to do something meaningful," he says. "And the way my mind works, which is how it was in business, I felt that if I could do something that was unique, it would be better than just doing what everybody else was doing."
The Merage Foundations reflect that vision. The Merage Foundation for the American Dream works to help immigrants to the U.S. achieve their own dreams and contribute back to America; it also hopes to increase understanding of the enormous benefits immigration has brought to the U.S. Three distinguished Iranian-Americans serve on this foundation’s board: Afsaneh Beschloss, Hamid Moghadam, and Sharmin Mossavar-Rahmani.
Children First brings skilled retirees together with low-income children to foster their development. Yet another foundation supports the development of strong business linkages between the United States and Israel.
Why does he give back so generously and creatively? Merage says, "My wife Lilly and I are committed to giving back to America ...to helping America continue to be a land of opportunity for its citizens. We must all work together...business, government, universities, non profit groups, community leaders, to sustain America as ‘the city on the shining hill’ and a beacon for the world."