“Sage of Omaha” to many Americans, Wealthiest Man Ever to Forbes and the rest of the world, Warren Buffet is also the most generous philanthropist alive today. Worth $62 billion, Buffet has surpassed Bill Gates as the richest person on earth.

Buffet and Gates, however, are friends. In fact, since June 26, 2006, Buffet has been giving away the bulk of his wealth to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

He has made the Gates Foundation richer than it already is by infusing it with $30.7 billion or 10 million of his Class B shares at Berkshire Hathaway.

This gesture is hailed as the biggest single donation yet by any individual, exceeding gifts made by John Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie.

Buffett has channeled his philanthropy into education and health, the biggest priorities of the Gates’ charity. In its bid to promote universal education, the organization made its largest grant yet to the United Negro College Fund, to the tune of $1 billion. With almost all of its work centered outside the US, The Gates Foundation has given around $11 billion in grants since 1994.

Besides The Gates Foundation, Warren Buffett set aside 2.05 million in Class B shares, translating to about $6 billion, for his family’s independent foundations. One is The Susan A. Buffett Foundation; the educational charity for children by Buffett’s daughter. Another education outfit to receive the shares is the NoVo Foundation, headed by his son Peter. His brother Howard has some environmental projects up for additional funding, too. Another recipient is a revitalized Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, which now focuses on anti-nuclear weaponry campaigns.

In all, Buffett’s 2006 pledge represents 85 percent of his fortune, or $37.4 billion. It will be awarded in increments yearly.

Warren is a Nebraskan native who, in 1965, bought a textile factory and transformed it into the Berkshire Hathaway empire, estimated to be worth over $141 billion today.