The Hilton family patriarch, Barron Hilton, will pass on the $1.2 billion windfall from the sale of Hilton Hotels Corporation - not to his famous progeny, but to his family’s philanthropic foundation, Fortune has learned.

Barron Hilton’s donation will effectively double the size of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, named after Barron’s father, the man who built Hilton Hotels from scratch and great-grandfather of celebutantes Paris and Nicky Hilton. In a statement e-mailed to Fortune, Barron Hilton wrote: “My personal net worth today, including created trusts, is approximately $2.3 billion, and what ever value it is upon my passing, it is my intent to contribute 97% of my estate to the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, following in my father’s footsteps.”

Hilton, who is 80 years old, has had an infusion of cash from two recent private equity deals. In July, Blackstone (BX) announced it was purchasing Hilton hotels for $26 billion, or $47.50 a share. Barron held roughly 5% of the shares. He also owns a stake in Harrah’s Entertainment (HET, Fortune 500), which is in the process of being bought by Apollo and Texas Pacific Group for $15 billion. That deal will reportedly net him $300 million when the sale is complete.

To put the gift in perspective, Hilton’s $1.2 billion pledge should be the second-largest publicly announced donation of 2007, behind Leona Helmsley, another hotel magnate, who gave $4 billion to a foundation under her family’s name.

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http://money.cnn.com/2007/12/21/news/newsmakers/yang_hilton.fortune/index.htm?section=money_latest

 

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