Philanthropist Walter Scott, left, sits next to Leslie Jackson, wife of glass artist Dale Chihuly, during a ceremony at the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center in Omaha, Neb., In 2017. Nati Harnik / AP
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Nati Harnik / AP
Philanthropist Walter Scott, left, sits next to Leslie Jackson, wife of glass artist Dale Chihuly, during a ceremony at the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center in Omaha, Neb., In 2017.
Nati Harnik / AP
OMAHA, Neb. – Billionaire Walter Scott, the former top executive of the construction company Peter Kiewit Sons Inc. who oversaw and donated to Warren Buffett’s conglomerate for a variety of purposes, particularly construction projects in the Omaha area, has died. He was 90.
The Suzanne and Walter Scott Foundation, founded by Scott, said Scott died on Saturday. The foundation did not name a cause of death.
Scott served on the board of directors of Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate from 1988 until his death, and even invested in the company’s utilities and energy businesses with Berkshire. Scott held approximately 8% of Berkshire Hathaway Energy’s shares and 105 Berkshire Class A shares, while Buffett’s Berkshire held almost all of the remainder.
Scott, who was born in Omaha in 1931 during the Great Depression, spent his entire career at Peter Kiewit Sons’ Inc. – the Omaha-based construction company that builds major projects around the world. He worked his way up from overseeing construction projects in California and New York to executive vice president of the company in 1965.
When Peter Kiewit died in 1979, Scott succeeded him as Chairman and CEO and led the company until 1998. He was also chairman of a Kiewit spin-off, Level 3 Communications, until the company was acquired in 2014.
The wealth that Scott had amassed enabled him to become a philanthropist. Scott and his late wife Suzanne made large donations to the University of Nebraska at Omaha, the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and Colorado State University. One of the main buildings of the UNMC’s new Fred and Pamela Buffett Cancer Center is named Suzanne and Walter Scott Cancer Research Tower because of their donations.
Sections of the Joslyn Art Museum and the Holland Performing Arts Center in Omaha are also named after the Scotts donation. Scott was also a longtime supporter of the prestigious Omaha Zoo, where the large aquarium is named after him and his wife.
Scott had advised the Omaha World Herald that he intended to donate almost all of his personal fortune to his personal foundation that supports projects in Omaha.
“My children were cared for a long time ago – what they make of their lives is now their own responsibility,” Scott told the World Herald. “Ultimately, almost everything goes to the foundation in the hope that it will benefit my hometown for many generations.”
Walter has been a director of numerous charitable and educational organizations and has served on the board of directors of the Omaha Zoological Society, Omaha Zoo Foundation, Joslyn Art Museum, Horatio Alger Association, Heritage Services, and the Board of Policy Advisors for the Peter Kiewit Institute.
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