Christy Walton is the widow of John Walton the Wal-mart billionaire, When John died on the 27th June 2005 Christy inherited $15.7 billion.  In March of 2009 she was proclaimed the 12th richest person in the Forbes World’s Billionaires with a net worth of 17.6 billion.  Christy and her son, Lukas, currently live in Jackson, Wyoming.

The death of John Walton was unexpected as he flew and experimental ultra light aircraft from Jackson Hole Airport in Grand Teton National Park.  The aircraft experienced complications soon after takeoff and John crashed to his death at the age of 58 years.  Flying was a huge passion of Johns’ and he spent many hours in the air trying out different aircraft designs.

John also inherited the business of Wal-Mart from his father Sam Walton who opened his first variety store at the age of 26 after leaving the armed forces.  The first store was a franchise of the Butler Brother Chain for which he loaned $20,000 from his father-in-law to buy.  Sam’s store soon became the leader in the franchise because of the methods he used to secure saving for the customers.  It only took 4 years for Sam to quadruple the turnover of this small store with a net of $250,000 a year in 1950; this was the beginning of his legacy and the Wal-Mart Supermarket chain.

Although Christy inherited her wealth from her late husband John she certainly was not shy of giving a few million away her and there.  She was always active in different non-profit organizations and donated well to their causes, and still financially supports the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation.  This foundation has been responsible for massive donations in the education sector such as, $300 million to the University of Arkansas and an estimated 1.6 billion overall.

Between 2002 and 2006 Christy donated around $3.5 million to her own personal involvements such as; The National Association of Trustees and Staff, Corporate Giving Officers and the Philanthropy Roundtable.  Her generosity lead to her being the highest ranked female philanthropist and she continues to give charitably today.

Christy Walton’s benevolence did not stop with education; she is a board member of The San Diego Natural History Museum, The San Diego Zoological Society and The Mingei International Museum which have all been recipients of her generosity.  Christy is an avid fan of supporting her charities and spends much of her spare time doing just that, since her husband’s death she has become more involved in her own personal charitable projects.

Before John’s death their charity went as far as to present their own Victorian home as a gift to the International Community Foundation (ICF).  The building was built in 1896 for a former National City postmaster and was fully renovated in 1989.  The Walton’s gave the home to ICF along with a $4 million endowment to help overseas donors with interests in community based health care, education and environment.  Christy remains a share holder of the Wal-Mart chain and First Solar, another project that her husband invested in.