An older Seattle man who was said to have holes in his clothing and rode the bus as a form of transportation left the city's Children's Research Institute $188 million in a trust this week.
98-year-old Jack MacDonald left most of his gift - the largest that has ever been bestowed upon a pediatric research organization in the United States - to the hospital's research center, according to USA Today.
Many people who knew MacDonald were unaware of his charitable efforts, which he avidly pursued for over 60 years. According to a small pool of close friends and family, the man who bought his clothing from the bargain bin and lived in a modest home had spent his life investing in stocks that helped build his fortune into an enormous storehouse set aside specifically for various charities. The 98-year-old who reportedly served in World War II later went on to spend three decades working as an attorney for the Veterans Administration. Meanwhile, he donated huge sums of money to hundreds of charities, including $536,000 to the Canadian town his grandfather first lived in when he moved to the United States from Scotland.
President of the Seattle Children's Hospital Foundation Doug Picha told ABC News that he knew MacDonald for 30 years.
"He loved a good deal, he clipped coupons and his shirt was maybe just a little tattered," Picha said, adding that MacDonald was proud he could save the assets left to him by his parents for ultimate good. "He was proper and old school, but very shy. I think he just really enjoyed the fact that all of this wealth would be transferred onto those three charities.
"He was drawn to the patient stories," he continued. "There was a lot of hope in those stories, and that really resonated with him."
