Estate of Subway co-founder Peter Buck donates half of the company to foundationEstate of Subway co-founder Peter Buck donates half of the company to foundation

The late co-founder of the Subway sandwich chain has donated his half of the company to the Peter and Carmen Lucia Buck Foundation Inc., the philanthropy announced this week.

Peter Buck co-founded the Milford, Conn.-based sandwich chain in 1965 with the late Fred DeLuca, who was 17 at the time. Buck died in November 2021 at the age of 90.

The Peter and Carmen Lucia Buck Foundation Inc. announced Monday that it would receive the bequest through Buck’s will.

The Wall Street Journal reported in January that Subway was considering a sale that would value it at more than $10 billion, which means that if the sale were to occur, the value of the donation would be about $5 billion.

Carrie Schindele, foundation executive director, said in a statement: “This gift will allow the foundation to greatly expand its philanthropic endeavors and impact many more lives, especially our work to create educational opportunities for all students, work Dr. Buck cared so deeply about.”

Buck, a nuclear physicist, invested $1,000 with family friend DeLuca after he asked Buck for help in paying his college tuition. The two formed a business partnership to create the sandwich shop. The foundation said the Buck and DeLuca families remain close.

Buck and his wife, the late Carmen Lucia Buck, created the private family foundation, which began making grants in 1999, to manage their family's philanthropic initiatives

PCLB's mission statement reflects the founders' goals of "giving motivated people the tools they need to help themselves.”:

The foundation said Buck planned the bequest over a decade ago as the final piece of his philanthropic plan to build PCLB.

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