To the casual observer, Gordon Hewitt was virtually destitute - walking around in his trademark duffel coat, ill-fitting trousers and canvas pumps, selling newspapers on the streets.
But the scruffy, penny-pinching eccentric - who used to read his paper in his car to save electricity - left behind a £250,000 fortune to six women who had been kind to him in life.
Three of the women were almost unknown to him - but had shared a handful of conversations, and in one case, a dance, with him over the years.
Twice-married Gordon, who lived in the same house all his life, had the huge sum located in at least 20 savings and investment schemes.
Hewitt's former neighbours, in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, told how he used to save money by reading the paper in his Reliant Robin so he didn’t have to turn on the light in his house, and wore his clothes wet rather than using his tumble dryer.
They recalled his obsessive approach to saving money - including never putting the heating on, eating for free at churches and relying on the same duffel coat for years.
Friend and neighbour Jean Buckley, 68, said Hewitt, who died 14 months ago, would even help in a soup kitchen just for the free soup, and would call into churches for the warmth.
She said: 'He used to sit in his Reliant Robin reading a newspaper with the light on so he didn’t have to turn the light on in the house. He was just a character.
Neighbour David Cheeseman, 68, said: 'I have known him for over 50 years and he was always eccentric and comical in his manner.
'I told him many times to look after himself and install central heating in his house. He just laughed.
'He wouldn’t spend a penny if he had to. He went to every different church to sit in the warm, have a cup of tea or meal. He knew where to go.
'He wouldn’t put the heat on in his house - when the police found him he was in his chair dead with his overcoat. I asked if the fire was on and they said no, I didn’t think it would have been.
'He had a dryer in his house but used to wash his clothes and put them on wet.
In an odd twist to Gordon’s tale, six ladies benefited from his will and at least three of them barely knew him.
One unnamed woman, a close friend, received the bulk of his fortune, while the other five received varying lesser sums, but still in the thousands.
One was a 63-year-old married mother-of-two who was working as a shop assistant when she first met him as a customer in 1988.
Although they only chatted a handful of times over the years, Gordon remembered her kindness as he made his will.
She said: 'Because of his unkempt appearance people would shy away from him. People would laugh and make fun of him.
'I would like to publicly acknowledge that Gordon did have a genteel side and he only wanted to pass the time of day.
Other recipients of the cash were shocked at the size of the sums involved - and that he kept his word.
One woman, 70, who asked not to be named, wasn’t expecting much more than £50 and assumed he was virtually broke.
She said: 'I couldn’t believe it, I thought it was a mistake. I danced with him at a club on a Sunday night. Other people would take the mickey out of him, which I didn’t like.
Another woman, in her 50s, had chatted to Gordon in the street near his home on a few dozen occasions.
She said: 'He hinted at a will but I thought he was talking rubbish. I was gobsmacked'.