A Washington state social worker who died of cancer this year left a surprise $11 million donation behind for children’s charities—a fortune that not even his closest friends knew he had. Alan Naiman, who died in January at the age of 63, left the money behind for kids’ charities that help the poor, sick, disabled, and abandoned. He was known during his life for being thrifty— friends told the Associated Press how he fixed his battered shoes with duct tape, looked out for deals at the grocery store deli at closing time, and took friends out to lunch at cheap fast-food joints. Naiman, who died unmarried and childless, is believed to have amassed the fortune by scrimping, investing, inheriting money from his parents, and working extra jobs to stockpile money that he didn’t like to spend on himself. Barbara Drennen, founder of the Washington-based Pediatric Interim Care Center (which received $2.5 million from Naiman), said: “We would never dream that something like this would happen to us. I wish very much that I could have met him. I would have loved to have had him see the babies he’s protecting.”
