Peter deCourcy Hero was born on September 10, 1942, in Washington, D.C. and died on August 21, 2016.

He was an American foundation and college president.

Hero was also the founder and principal of The Hero Group.

Whilst he served President and CEO of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, from 1989 to 2006 Hero grew total foundation charitable assets from under $9 million to over $1.2 billion.

During this time he became the acknowledged catalyst to transform charitable giving in the region, and has since been recognized as a respected philanthropy expert.

Hero successfully showed the region’s emerging high-tech wealthy how to be both strategic and to make measurable high impact philanthropic investments, locally and globally.

However, a feature article in the November 27, 2000, issue of Fortune titled “The Man Who Sold Silicon Valley On Giving” described Hero’s pioneering donor-centric strategies, which have become widely adopted among American community foundations.

Peter served as President of The Maine College of Art, the largest cultural organization in Northern New England,from 1985 to 1989.

Hero served on the multiple national philanthropic boards.

Peter served on the Board of Directors of PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) where he created and Chaired the PBS Foundation, raising over $20M in the first year.

HIs latest book on civil society development, titled Local Mission – Global Vision: Community Foundations in the 21st Century was published in 2008 by the Foundation Center in New York, and has since been translated into 5 languages.

He died due to esophageal cancer.

Peter deCourcy Hero passed away at 73 years old.