A Most Generous Jackson

Among all his remarkable qualities, generosity was one of Michael Jackson's prominent characteristics. Little known fact: he made the 2000 Guinness Book of World Records for "Most Charities Supported by a Pop Star" by donating millions to a panoply of charities, including AIDS Project, American Cancer Society, Congressional Black Caucus, Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, National Rainbow Coalition and the YMCA, among many others.

And of course there was "We Are the World," a song he co-wrote with Lionel Richie, which sold 20 million copies and raised a mint for global famine relief.

Further, the singer's Heal the World Foundation, which he founded in 1992, engages in a range of initiatives to help the world's most vulnerable. In 1993, the Foundation launched the Heal L.A. initiative to help youth in riot-ravaged East Los Angeles. Former President Jimmy Carter agreed to be co-chairman of the project, according to an ad that Heal the World Foundation ran in USA Today. The ad showed Jackson kissing a baby and quoted him as saying, "I started Heal the World Foundation to improve the conditions for children throughout the world."

In the midst of the media circus surrounding his death, here's to remembering the noteworthy good that characterized Jackson's life.