Secondhand Pants, Unheated Home and a $10-Million Estate

A self-described miser who drank outdated milk, lived in an unheated house and held up his secondhand pants with a bungee cord has left $9 million to social service agencies.

Gordon Elwood, 79, of Medford died in October, leaving a legacy built on frugality and shrewd investments from 46 years as a self-taught TV technician.

“Gordon was a very bright, articulate person but he literally was a miser,” said Robert Hutchins, who managed Elwood’s finances for more than 20 years. “He didn’t want anything that was yours, but he certainly saved what was his.”

Board members of the Gordon Elwood Foundation said that $9 million of Elwood’s $10-million estate will take the form of grants to agencies in southern Oregon, including the YMCA, the Salvation Army, the American Red Cross and charities that benefit cats.

News of Elwood’s fortune surprised people who knew him as a shabbily dressed figure pedaling a bicycle across Jackson County, collecting bottles and cans for deposits. He slept in a sleeping bag and ate free holiday meals.

“He would come in here, and I would think he was really poor,” said Mick Johnson, family services director for the Medford Salvation Army. “I would give him a loaf of bread. Sometimes I would give him a little jar of jelly. I feel so silly.”

Even Elwood’s family was in the dark about his wealth. His sister, Doreen Keener, 81, gasped when she learned. “Ten million! That’s quite a lot,” she said. “He always admitted he was a miser.”

The estate also provides a trust for his two children.