A Vermont janitor said to be a quiet and frugal man surprised his town when an $8 million fortune was found among his possessions after he died last June at age 92, according to Yahoo! Finance.
No one, including Ronald Read's stepchildren, knew he was sitting on a multimillion-dollar fortune while he worked at a Brattleboro gas station for 25 years and then as a janitor at J.C. Penny for another 17 years, the Associated Press reported.
"He was unbelievably frugal," Read's lawyer, Laurie Rowell, told the AP on Wednesday. She said when Read drove to her office, "sometimes he parked so far away so he wouldn't have to pay the meter."
But that entire time, Read- who held his coat together with safety pins- was reportedly investing in major companies like AT&T, Bank of America and General Motors.
"He only invested in what he knew and what paid dividends," Rowell, told CNBC. "That was important to him."
Rowell said Read kept his investments in a safety deposit box. Read's stepson, Phillip Brown, remembers his stepdad always read The Wall Street Journal but had no idea of the extent of the man's wealth, the Brattleboro Reformer reported.
"I was tremendously surprised," Brown said. "He was a hard worker, but I don't think anybody had an idea that he was a multi-millionaire."
Read's fortune will be put to good use, thanks to the $4.8 million he bequeathed to the Brattleboro Memorial Hospital and another $1.2 million to the local Brooks Memorial Library, the AP reported. He also left an antique Edison phonograph to the Dummerston Historical Society, Rowell told the AP.
"It's pretty incredible," said Brattleboro Memorial Hospital Development Director Gina Pattison. "This is not something that happens on a regular basis."
