One Fat Cat
The Reclusive Heiress
Huguette Clark’s net worth was estimated at $400 million; she owned a 42-room apartment on New York's Fifth Avenue, an oceanfront estate in Santa Barbara and a country manor in Connecticut. For the last 20 years of her life, Clark cut off all contact with her family and lived in almost complete isolation. When she died in 2011 at 104, she left the bulk of her fortune to charity: her California estate became a museum, and her collection of art, instruments and rare books was given to a foundation to promote the arts. Hadassah Peri, Clark’s nurse, walked away with a cool $37 million, while the copper heiress’s family was awarded zilch.
MORE: World's Richest Heirs
Campus Grandpa
Bruce Lindsay ate lunch in the cafeteria at Vanguard University in Orange County, Calif., every single day for several decades. A child of The Depression, he was extremely frugal and loved its $1.25 all-you-can-eat meals. Students and staff, who often chatted with Lindsay, referred to him affectionately as “campus grandpa.” Unmarried, childless and evidently not close with his other relatives, the school became his surrogate family. When he passed away in 2009 at 79, Lindsay left his whole fortune—reportedly a couple of million—to Vanguard, who used part of the money to revamp the cafeteria.
Photo via NBC News
The Modest Millionaire
Most of John White’s neighbors in Somerset, England had no idea that he was a millionaire. The one-time Royal Air Force kitchen hand, who had made most of his money on stock in supermarket giant Tesco, lived humbly. When he died in 2007 at age 94, his will specified that the vast majority of his fortune—roughly $3.2 million—should go to a number of churches, children’s groups and schools. The only beneficiary who knew Mr. White was his local Methodist church; the rest of the organizations had never heard of the generous man. Less than 2 percent of the fortune, about $64,000, went to John’s family.
Photo via Daily Mail
D.C.'s Philanthropist
When railroad heir Richard A. Herman passed away at age 100, he left nearly his entire fortune to the city he loved, Washington, D.C. Ironically, the city had no idea that the shy, low-profile millionaire even existed. Though he had donated to organizations before, he had never attended the associated social functions. The $28 million Herman gave to Family Matters, a social service organization for needy families, was more than double its normal yearly budget. An arts patron, he also designated that $15 million be split between the National Symphony Orchestra and the Washington National Opera.
Photo via The Washington Post
Hometown Hero
Though he spent very little time in Elkhart, Ind., after his childhood, David Gundlach left $150 million to the small town in which he was raised. After leaving Indiana as a teen, Gundlach made his fortune in the U.K., where he built a prosperous car insurance business that he sold in 2006. Between 2006 and 2013, he bought mansions across the country, financed a Hollywood film and tried his hand (unsuccessfully) at day trading. When the unmarried Gundlach died at age 56 of a heart attack this past September, his will stipulated that his entire estate, including 11 homes, 15 cars and valuable art, go to Elkhart, much to the town’s surprise and delight.
Picked at Random
Luis Carlos de Noronha Cabral de Camara claimed aristocratic Portugese lineage and possessed plenty of money but had few friends and no children. So, when he wrote his will more than 20 years ago, he decided to pick his beneficiaries at random from the Lisbon phone book. When Luis died in 2007, the 70 individuals he had selected were alerted that they could claim their share of the estate. With a 12-room apartment in Lisbon, a house near the northern town of Guimaraes, a few robust bank accounts, a luxury car and two motorbikes to his name, Luis Carlos's heirs walked away with several thousand euros each.
Photo via Outside The Beltway
