Howard Buffett, the new chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, is an Illinois farmer and philanthropist who has become one of the biggest benefactors of Ukraine.

Buffett, the 71-year-old son of Warren Buffett, has lived in Decatur for almost 25 years. He runs a 1,500-acre farm in the area-paid for with a gift from his father-and heads the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, which receives an annual donation from his father. There are two other Buffett children: Susie Buffett, 73, and Peter Buffett, 68.

The son took the chairman's seat Friday when his father, who turned 96 in August, became chairman emeritus. Howard Buffett's new role is part of what Berkshire described as part of a "longstanding succession plan."

In fact, it was always Warren Buffett's intention for Howard Buffett to succeed him as chairman, and the son has been prepping to fill his father's shoes since he became a board member in 1993, according to "The Snowflake," Alice Schroeder's biography of Warren Buffett. Susie Buffett joined the Berkshire board in 2021.

Barron's requested comment from Howard Buffett, through his foundation, but hasn't gotten a response.

Buffett owns about $9 million of Berkshire stock, mostly consisting of 10 Class A shares, according to Berkshire's 2026 proxy statement.

The Buffett children will be responsible for giving away their father's fortune, almost entirely consisting of more than $140 billion of Berkshire stock, by 2034-an enormous undertaking.

Howard Buffett, like his father, grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, where Berkshire's headquarters still are today.

As a young man, he struggled for direction. He didn't finish college. Eventually, though, he found farming and went at it with fervor in Illinois.

Buffett's calling, though, is philanthropy, and he has embraced it with a passion. A short chapter in his life that shows his commitment to community: About a decade ago, he served a year as a sheriff in Macon County, Illinois.

The son has also sat on a number of corporate boards, including Coca-Cola, ConAgra Foods, and Lindsay Corp.

Buffett's foundation gave away $700 million last year to do work in primarily three areas: food security, conflict mitigation and countering human trafficking, according to its annual report.

The foundation's mission is "to catalyze transformational change and to improve the standard of living and quality of life for the world's most impoverished and marginalized populations," according a statement on its website.

The vast bulk of the foundation's donations have gone abroad. Ukraine received about half of last year's $700 million and a total of $1.1 billion since Russia's war against Ukraine began in 2022.

In his chairman's letter in the 2025 annual report, Buffett wrote that Ukraine's resistance against Russian aggression amounts to "a once-in-a-generation test, not dissimilar to the lead-up to World War II."

"Our view is that Ukraine's brave resistance to Russian aggression is preventing a far more dangerous world from emerging," he wrote.

Buffett has been recognized by Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelensky and honored by the country with a high honor as a "National Legend of Ukraine." He is one of the largest international donors to the country.

Buffett travels often to Ukraine and works with farmers there. His trips during wartime worry his father, he told CNBC early this year.

Buffett's giving reflects his father's philosophy that philanthropy should tackle hard problems. And, following in his father's footsteps, he runs a lean operation with a staff of about a dozen. He takes no salary, gets less than about $50,000 in paid benefits, and keeps expenses to 1% of total giving-far below the average in the field.

Warren Buffett trusts his children's giving and told CNBC in July that he doesn't look at the annual form 990s of their foundations that detail their contributions.

Howard Buffett also makes quick decisions. Once, according to an interview with CNBC, he stunned a grant applicant by offering to make a $50 million gift on the spot.

Warren Buffett has long said that his son's role as chairman would be to safeguard Berkshire's culture and values-and CEO Greg Abel would manage the company. He repeated that Friday when he took the role of chairman emeritus.

"Think of Howard as a policy the shareholders own and hope never to claim against," Buffett wrote in a letter to shareholders.

In her 2008 biography, Schroeder wrote that Warren Buffett had to do some "mental back flips" to reconcile his many statements railing against dynastic wealth and "divine right of the womb" with his intention to have Howard Buffett succeed him as chairman.

Howard Buffett has limited investment experience and his corporate experience has mostly been sitting on boards.

But Warren Buffett is obsessed with the preservation of Berkshire's culture, including integrity, quick decision-making, a lack of bureaucracy, and decentralization. His view is that Howard Buffett will help preserve that.

Howard Buffett also is there to represent the family's interests. He will still be counseled by his father and play an even larger role as chairman after his father's death-a transition that could face a tough test if investors call for a breakup of the company.

Warren Buffett is adamantly opposed to a breakup because he firmly believes Berkshire's conglomerate structure is a major benefit.

And the father is betting that his son will be Berkshire's fierce protector-especially against potential activists.