The story of an Irish-American man -- who for the past 15 years has quietly donated more than $600 million to various charities -- has cast light on Bermuda's sophistication as an international financial centre.

The tale of Charles F. Feeney, highlighted recently in The New York Times and CNN News, places Bermuda prominently at the centre of his philanthropic empire.

For the past 30 years Mr. Feeney, with partner Robert Miller, amassed a fortune through the operations of Duty Free Shoppers, a company they founded in 1960.

Throughout the 60's and 70's Duty Free Shoppers experienced phenomenal growth and before long had become the world's largest chain of airport luxury goods stores, ringing up sales of more than $3 billion annually.

While his partner responded to wealth through more conventional ways -- multi-million dollar, multi-day parties -- Mr. Feeney quietly assessed his new-found riches and determined he had more than he deserved.

Living his philosophy -- "nobody can wear two pairs of shoes at one time'' -- Mr. Feeney decided to discreetly redistribute his fortune to universities, hospitals, and agencies dealing with children and human rights.

One-fourth of Mr. Feeney's donations have been made outside the US, with half of that going to various Irish causes, including personal donations to Sinn Fein, the political arm of the IRA.

In an effort to remain anonymous Mr. Feeney in 1982 set up his philanthropic arm -- the Atlantic Foundation -- and chose to run it from Bermuda in order to avoid American disclosure laws.

Throughout the years the Atlantic Foundation, and its American sister the Atlantic Trust, went about donating to worthy causes. It wasn't until January 23, when Mr. Feeney sold his 38.75-percent stake in Duty Free Shoppers, that the people finally learned of his generosity.

With the sale of DFS, the Atlantic Foundation and the Atlantic Trust have grown to become one of the world's largest charitable agencies, with assets exceeding $3.5 billion.

Both the Foundation and the Trust are Bermuda-based charities and its world-wide investments are managed on the Island, two of the Foundation's Bermuda-based Directors, Frank Mutch and Cummings Zuill, told The Royal Gazette .

And Mr. Feeney is no stranger to the Island -- at one point in the 1970's he owned a home here and remains a regular visitor, said Mr. Zuill.

Meanwhile Mr. Feeney established the Atlantic Foundation on Bermuda for a variety of reasons: "Bermuda is good location as far as international business is concerned,'' said Mr. Mutch.

"It has a good legal system, good communication facilities, a clean and solid image, and the right balance of supervision and regulation.'' Bermuda's discreet banking laws also provided perfect cover for his clandestine giving.

Some Island charities have also benefited from Mr. Feeney's generosity, though Mr. Mutch and Mr. Zuill refuse to say which.

Bermuda however benefits indirectly through having the Atlantic Foundation and Trust administered locally. Not only are jobs created, but the Island's financial sophistication gains world-wide notoriety, they point out.