TORONTO - A Canadian teacher who lived a frugal life but gave large,
anonymous donations to people in need, has left a C$4.3 million (US$3.8 million)
fortune to an environmental charity.
Roberta Langtry, 89, kept her wealth a secret until her death last year. The
Toronto woman had worked as an elementary school teacher and speech therapist
for 55 years, quietly amassing millions, mainly from financial investments.
"She was friends with all her neighbors and they loved her but had no idea
she had two nickels to rub together," Robert Borden, her executor and long-time
friend, said on Friday.
Borden, who became Langtry's financial adviser in 1973, said the retired
teacher had been deeply environmentally conscious and incredibly frugal.
She once urged Borden to invest in a company that made plastic picnic tables
in the hope that they would take off, curbing the need for wooden ones and
helping save trees.
And she did not hesitate to fire off complaints to environmental groups whose
newsletters were a little too polished: "They didn't need to be that flashy,
that was her opinion," he said.
Borden also sent hefty checks to people Langtry thought needed the money,
often devising elaborate ruses to ensure the recipient never discovered who it
came from.
Langtry lived with an aunt who passed away in the early 1990s and left her
the modest bungalow the two had shared.
She bought shares of International Business Machines Corp. in the 1950s and
built on her wealth with savvy but conservative stock and bond investments.
"We did very well together from a financial standpoint," Borden said. "She
was very well versed and interested in financial things. She would hear
something, read something and she would call me and say: 'Now Bob, what do you
think of this?' "
The Nature Conservancy of Canada, which announced the bequest on Friday, said
the money would be used to support wetland conservation, among other projects.
($1=$1.12 Canadian)
