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Howard Fieldstead Ahmanson, Jr (born 1950) is an American millionaire philanthropist who funds the causes of Christian fundamentalism.

Biography

Ahmanson is the son of the American financier Howard F. Ahmanson, Sr (1906 — 1968) and his wife. His parents divorced when he was 10, and his mother died shortly afterwards. Despite the trappings of wealth, he was a lonely child "I resented my family background, could never be a role model, whether by habits or his lifestyle, it was never anything I wanted." Howard Ahmanson, Sr died when his son was 18, and Ahmanson Jr inherited a vast fortune.

He went to Occidental College, where he obtained a degree in economics. He then toured Europe, but returned because of arthritis. He earned a master's degree in linguistics at the University of Texas at Arlington.

He then became a Calvinist, and later became interested in Christian Reconstructionism.

He married his wife Roberta Green Ahmanson in 1986. He is somewhat reclusive and has Tourette syndrome; his wife usually makes announcements for him.

Philanthrophy

Ahmanson's philanthropic organization is the Fieldstead Institute. Through Fieldstead, he is a major funder of the Coalition of Christian Colleges and Universities (now known as the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities). His wife Roberta has been directly involved with the CCCU's World Journalism Institute, its Washington Journalism Center, Summer Institute of Journalism, and Fieldstead Journalism Lectures.

Ahmanson is also a major backer of the Discovery Institute, whose Center for Science and Culture opposes the theory of evolution and manages a public relations campaign promoting Intelligent Design.

Ahmanson funded a four-year series of conferences on holistic development co-sponsored with Food for the Hungry International, held in Thailand, Zimbabwe, Ecuador, and the Philippines, an international photo exhibit and book on the victims of war in Nagorno-Karabakh, support for music education for elementary students in public schools in Orange County, California, sponsorship of Stanley Spencer: An English Vision, a retrospective exhibition at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C., the Museum of Contemporary Art in Mexico City, and the Palace of Fine Art in San Francisco.

Ahmanson has funded the magazine Chalcedon Report, and he funds the Claremont Institute. He has donated to numerous political candidates and organizations associated with the United States Republican Party. Some of his donations have been returned because of his views and associations.

External links

• "Rich in Faith," a five-part series profiling the Ahmansons from the Orange County Register.
• Laurie Goodstein and David D. Kirkpatrick, "Conservative Group Amplifies Voice of Protestant Orthodoxy," The New York Times
• Howard Fieldstead Ahmanson, Jr.
• Howard Ahmanson, Board of Directors - Discovery Institute
• Howard F. Ahmanson, Jr. article at Sourcewatch
• Diebold, Electronic Voting and the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy
• Avenging angel of the religious right, Salon Magazine.
• From Genesis to Dominion
• Christian Reconstructionism

• 1950 births
• American philanthropists
• Discovery Institute fellows and advisors
• Living people