Michael Fux is known at charity events as the owner of the exotic car collection which serves as the backdrop for many a fundraiser. To the business world, he is the man who revolutionized the sleep industry. Most importantly, to many underprivileged children, he is the philanthropist who gave them the gift of life…and then some.
This entrepreneur amassed his fortune in the foam bedding industry, enabling him to “give back.” He is responsible for building the Michael Fux Family Center at Miami Children’s Hospital, a respite for families of gravely ill, underprivileged children that provides the comforts of home. Replete with showers, laundry facilities, a work-out and massage room, an entertainment center and a dazzling movie theatre, this state-of the-art facility serves as a place where families can enjoy precious time together.
Michael fulfills wishes by personally delivering Christmas gifts to children in the hospital while providing star-studded entertainment to put smiles on their faces. His organization, the Michael Fux Foundation, supports the Children’s Cancer Caring Center (CCCC), a place that rescues children worldwide who are placed in hospice and left to die because of lack of medical funds. The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Operation Smile, the Injured Officers Assistance Fund, Make a Wish Foundation and many more have benefited from the good works of Michael Fux. The list is endless, meriting him an award from the House of Representatives in 2009.
Mixing business and pleasure has turned out to be beneficial and very profitable for many a charity. His business acumen and ensuing financial success have enabled him to amass an exotic 111 car collection that he uses for pleasure as well as a draw for fundraising events. One day, all of these cars which will be parked in a museum benefiting children’s causes.
All this comes from a man who came from humble beginnings. He emigrated to the U.S. from Cuba and lived with his family in Newark in a seven-story walk up with painted-shut windows. With little money or opportunity to attend college, he succeeded despite his obstacles. Michael had something money cannot buy–an entrepreneurial spirit. He first opened a small used tire and battery store at age 17, quickly worked his way up the ladder at major retail stores and eventually became a magnate in the memory foam bedding industry. Due to the financial success of his former company, Sleep Innovations, where he unveiled the first memory foam mattress pads in 1986, and currently, Comfort Revolution—slated to revolutionize the bedding industry; countless lives have been, and will continue to be, extended.
When asked how someone can repay him for his kindness, he simply says to “just do something nice for somebody else.”
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