With news that eBay Inc. founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pam were giving away $50 million of their fortune to charity, one of my editors asked me if the Omidyars' gift was the largest-ever charitable donation in Hawaii.

If you're talking about a single donation from a living person, it might be. But it's another thing if you're talking about perpetual endowments set up after a person's death.

Legendary dealmaker Harry Weinberg left nearly a $1 billion of his personal wealth to the Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Foundation when he died in 1990 and Big Island rancher Richard Smart turned over his $300 million of his  assets to the Parker Ranch Foundation Trust when he passed away in 1992.

Another Big Island rancher, Maude Woods Wodehouse, left about $100 million to 16 local organizations including the Bishop Museum when she died in 2003.

Bob Black of the EE Black construction empire left $60 million to local charities in 1987 while Hawaii Five-O star Jack Lord and his wife Marie left $40 million to about a dozen local charities in 2006.

Among those still living, Chuck Feeney, co-founder of Duty Free Shoppers has given more than $25 million to Chaminade University since 2000 and real estate investor Jay Shidler donated $25 million to the University of Hawaii-Manoa's College of Business.

All of these contributions have supported a wide range of  charitable causes ranging from feeding the hungry, providing shelter to the homeless, supporting local schools, universities and hospitals and financing Honolulu's arts and culture scene.

Their endowments play a major role in shaping our community.

Although the Omidyars partly grew up here (Pierre went to Punahou School for the eighth and ninth grades and Pam grew up in Hawaii Kai), they largely kept a low profile since returning to the isles in 2006.

But throught their $50 million gift, you can expect the couple to play a more substantial role in the local community.