A Polish immigrant whom everybody believed was a pauper scavenging on the streets, has left behind an estate estimated at $1 million to New York City to honour those who died in the September 11th terror attacks.
Few who knew Joe Temeczko (86) suspected the self-employed carpenter, labourer and former prisoner of war was so well-off - but none was surprised by his generosity.
Mr Temeczko loved his adopted country and especially New York, where he arrived in 1950 to become a US citizen. He worked on a construction project at the Statue of Liberty and saved his framed letter of appreciation, along with the numerous items culled from daily alley walks.
"I was talking with him after the disaster and he seemed pretty distraught," said his neighbour, Mr David Schad, who found Mr Temeczko's body in his garden on October 14th. "It hit him on a different level." Mr Temeczko lived alone in a modest house in Minnesota and died of an apparent heart attack. He left no relatives, according to his will.
Mr Temeczko told his lawyer, Mr William Wangensteen, in late September that he wanted help with a will. "He told me, 'I think you're going to like what I'm going to do'."