ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, June 27, 1996 TAG: 9606270067
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: Associated Press
THOMAS CANNON KNEW the former owners of AMF Bowling weren't exactly strapped. But he wanted to reward them for hefty bonuses given to employees.
A retired postal worker who has dispensed $85,000 worth of unsolicited donations to people during the past 21 years has sent two multimillionaire businessmen $1,000 each.
Thomas Cannon mailed the Richmond Times-Dispatch two checks and asked the newspaper to deliver them to William H. Goodwin and Beverley W. Armstrong in honor of bonuses paid to AMF Bowling workers after they sold the company.
After selling AMF for a reported $1 billion in May, Goodwin and Armstrong surprised 4,000 employees with average bonuses of $12,500. The bonuses totaled $50 million, or about 5 percent of the proceeds from the sale.
Since 1975, Cannon, who lives in a donated home with his bedridden wife, Princetta, has parceled out money - often in $1,000 increments - from his modest earnings and savings to help others.
In a two-page letter that accompanied the checks, Cannon said he was ``absolutely delighted to read of [Goodwin and Armstrong's] extraordinarily generous bonuses to their AMF employees.''
``I am well aware that these two gentlemen are multimillionaires and therefore have no need, probably no desire, for my checks. Nevertheless, I felt the need to let them know how I felt about their generosity toward their employees.''
In the letter and in an interview with the newspaper, Cannon said he chose the businessmen because he wanted to fight the stereotype that all wealthy people are ``greedy, stingy and crooked penny-pinching Ebenezer Scrooges.'' The rich often fund medical research, education, the arts and new technology, Cannon said.
``Billionaires and millionaires are also `humanaires.' ... They are humans first.''
Cannon, 70, said people often ``mistakenly think I'm an extension of the welfare system. But that's not true. I think most of the people I've given to are better off than me.''
It's not the first time Cannon has paid philanthropic tribute to a millionaire. In 1976, Cannon sent a $1,000 check to Richmond businessman and philanthropist Sydney Lewis.
Goodwin, who closely guards his privacy and rarely speaks publicly, could not be reached for comment.
Armstrong sent the newspaper a letter asking that the checks be returned to Cannon or given to people in greater need than he.
LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP Thomas Cannon, shown in a 1995 photo with his wife,by CNBPrincetta, has donated more than $79,000 to various individuals and
groups since 1972.|