When Richard Leroy Walters retired from his engineering job at Allied Signal Corp., he gave up all of his personal possessions and became one of the homeless who slept on the floor at a Phoenix mission. He died at age 76 with $4 million in his estate.
According to Rita Belle, a registered nurse and the executor of his will, Richard Walters was an honors graduate of Purdue, a former Marine and invested well. He left bequests to a few non-profit organizations, including NPR as well as a substantial monetary gift to the Phoenix mission where the two first met.
Belle said that they became friends through their casual conversations and she eventually took care of him when he had no place else to turn when he became ill, citing the fact that he had never married and was estranged from his only brother.
NPR received a bequest of $400,000 from the estate and has shared Walters’ story with its listeners.
Check it out below on NPR All Things Considered.