To many who know him, Sam Tenenbaum is a force of nature.

He succeeded as a philanthropist for more than 40 years because he was so passionate it was hard to say no to him.

White Knoll Middle School Principal Nancy Turner called him “the godfather of giving.”

Tenenbaum helped her students raise $500,000 for a fire truck for Brooklyn Ladder Company 101 after New York City lost trucks in the 9/11 terror attack.

While having dinner with William Murray, a New York lawyer and University of South Carolina graduate, Tenenbaum explained the school’s fundraising.

Murray pledged to contribute $100,000 when the school reached $250,000.

That led to an invitation for the students to ride in the 2001 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.

The students were returning a favor. In 1867, New York City gave Columbia a fire buggy after theirs was destroyed when union troops burned the city.

As Prisma Health Foundation president, he helped raise more than $72 million.

He and his wife Inez, a former SC Superintendent of Education and chair of the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, made their home in Lexington for many years.

In retirement, Tenebaum will live in Cleveland, SC, to be in the mountains.

“You’ve always gotta pinch yourself,” he told WLTX-TV. “How did this little boy from Savannah, the son of an immigrant, get here?”

For the last 12 years, as Prisma Health Midlands Foundation President, he helped countless patients get the care they need.

“We don’t know all of those individuals and they don’t know us.

“It’s the highest form of charity. You’re anonymous, but we’re providing the necessary services to help and prolong life,” he said,

“That’s a joyful feeling.”