Story highlights Man known for extreme frugality makes generous donations to local hospital, library.

Robert Read served in WWII and worked as a mechanic in Vermont.

Read worth millions upon his death last summer.

(CNN) Before Ronald Read died last summer, he was, on several occasions, the recipient of another person's generosity.

One woman, worried that the same tattered baseball cap he often wore wouldn't be enough to keep him warm in the Vermont winter, knitted him a hat, Read's attorney Laurie Rowell told CNN.

His khaki denim jacket was held together with a safety pin and his flannel shirt was so old, someone once paid for his breakfast at Friendly's.

"The man ahead of him had paid for him," Rowell said, "Based on what he looked like and how he dressed."

Perhaps that's why the man known for his extreme frugality and scruffy appearance decided in the years before his death that he'd do a little giving of his own.

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