"What I've tried to do," Boston mega-philanthropist Jack Connors told an obituary writer interviewing him as he lay dying of pancreatic cancer, "is to make sure that the folks whose net worth is $10 get a break, too."

For decades, the son of a working-class Irish-American family who worked his way through college before starting a big-time advertising firm was legendary in Boston for his generosity, particularly when it came to finding ways to boost those who needed it the most. He donated nearly $100 million from his own pocket, and cajoled, charmed and inspired others to donate hundreds of millions more, to provide educational opportunities, health care, shelter, food and social services for the struggling, seeing himself in them and them in him. Passionate identification with underdogs and a ferocious drive to make the implausible happen is what he is remembered for a little over a year after his death. "I called him 'a weaver of dreams,''' says Danielle Kellermann, who worked at his side for years as he conjured up ideas for helping the needy and then finding the funds to turn the ideas into reality.

One of the dreams that Connors spun into reality is Camp Harbor View, a summer camp plus a great deal more that he created in 2007, which annually provides over 1,000 inner-city kids and their families experiences — and support — that are life-changing. Kellermann recounts how Boston's then-mayor, Thomas Menino, confided to Connors his frustration that so many young Bostonians had nothing to look forward to in the summer. "We need to do something for disadvantaged kids," Menino said.

Connors remembered a strip of land on an uninhabited island in Boston Harbor that he'd last been on when he was 8. "Get me that island," Connors told the Mayor, "and I'll build you a camp." And then, Kellermann says, Connors "called all his friends." This was his pitch to them: "I'm going to help you help kids."

"The two of them," Kellermann says, referring to Connors and Menino, "just went at it," raising $10 million in short order. "They decided to do it in the winter and by the following summer, there was a camp for 1,000 kids."

That's almost 20,000 inner-city kids who've gotten a chance to do something they could only have dreamed of: spending part of a summer on an island looking back at their city, with a beach created especially for them, basketball and tennis courts, lush sports fields, sailboats, a pool, rock-climbing, music and arts. Nurtured by a rigorously vetted and trained staff of 80, who share Connors' commitment to giving kids a summer they not only will never forget but also will live with them always. Nutritious breakfasts and lunches and a dinner to take home on the specially commissioned boats that bring them to the island and back each day are also included.

It is, moreover, love and attention and role-modeling and lasting friendships. Camp alumni, many of whom return as staffers, attest to the impact the place has had on them. One describes it as "dominoes for good," alluding to the positive ripple effects Camp Harbor View has on campers and their families.

But Connors wanted to make sure that Camp Harbor View continued to help kids concretely after summer ended. He and his team established a Leadership Academy that trains 200 high school students in leadership development and provides career and college preparation. There's an economic stability program that includes monthly food distributions to food-insecure families. There's an Emergency Flex fund for families in urgent need. There's a Guaranteed Income Program administered along with one-on-one check-ins by professionals. And there are engagement programs aimed at building out the skills and resources of parents and caregivers. It is, in short, a fitting testament to Jack Connors' compassion — and his astuteness.

There were only a few short weeks between Jack Connors' diagnosis and his death. In those final days, he talked about ensuring that Camp Harbor View's future was secure. There are terrific people, people who worked alongside Jack, who are determined that it will be. They remind us, as Connors did, that amid the terrible news in the world, there's good in it, and that everyone has the chance to add to it.

Jeff Robbins' latest book, "Notes From the Brink: A Collection of Columns about Policy at Home and Abroad," is available now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books and Google Play. Robbins, a former assistant United States attorney and United States delegate to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, was chief counsel for the minority of the United States Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. An attorney specializing in the First Amendment, he is a longtime columnist for the Boston Herald, writing on politics, national security, human rights and the Mideast.

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