Major Republican donor and investment manager Foster Friess has died, according to his family. He was 81. His family said in a statement sent from Scottsdale, Arizona, “Foster S. Friess passed away peacefully today, May 27th, surrounded by his family. We are grateful for the wonderful life Foster lived and thankful to the many people who have shared their prayers during his illness.” With a vast net worth of over $500 million and donations to match, Friess supported socially conservative and Christian right causes and politicians like Rick Santorum as well as philanthropic efforts across the world, including Kurds fighting ISIS. He unsuccessfully ran for governor of Wyoming in 2018, and his own brushes with the public eye often ended in controversy, as when he suggested on live television that Bayer aspirin was an effective contraceptive in 2012 and released a Hitler-themed parody video decrying Obamacare in 2017.
