A Canadian retiree pledged Tuesday to give away a Can$40-million ($37 million USD) lottery prize to charity, telling Canada’s public broadcaster that he doesn’t need the money.

“I’ve been fortunate enough, through my career, 44 years with a company. I did very well for myself. I’ve done enough that I can look after myself, for my kids, so they can get looked after into the future. I don’t really need that money,” Tom Crist told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

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The Calgary, Alberta resident retired as chief executive of an electrical wholesale company in September, four months after learning from lotteries officials that he had won the jackpot.

Crist had been golfing in California when he got the call.

He waited until now to claim the jackpot because at the time, he told the CBC, “I just didn’t know how to deal with it.”

“As soon as I hung up from my cellphone call from Western Canada Lottery I never thought about it. We finished our lunch, we went out golfing. I’ve kept it a secret, even my kids didn’t know until today,” he said.

The funds, he said, will be rolled into a trust fund and doled out to charities chosen by himself and his children over the coming years, in memory of his wife who died of cancer two years ago.