Parton believed the success she had enjoyed carried with it a responsibility to give something back.
Dolly Parton knew how to make money and, just as importantly, how to use it. From hundreds of millions of books for children to medical research and rebuilding communities, the country music legend turned part of the fortune she built into something much bigger.
Parton died a very wealthy woman having grown up poor in a two-room log cabin with her parents and 11 siblings in Sevierville, Tennessee.
The country music star, who died on Tuesday at the age of 80, had built an estimated fortune of about $450 million by 2025 from a career that stretched far beyond singing into songwriting, publishing and an extensive business empire, according to Business Insider.
But Parton's relationship with money was perhaps as remarkable for what she did with it as for how successfully she accumulated it. She was unusually astute businesswoman who understood the value of retaining ownership of the intellectual property she created.
