It’s not every day that Charles Turner opens the mail to find a check for $536,000. Although the amount took his breath away, Turner, of the Rotary Club of Whitehall-Bexley, Ohio, USA, wasn’t surprised when he considered the generous nature of the man whose money it was: Karl Reiser, who helped charter the club in 1969.

“During his life, Karl gave of himself,” says Turner, president of his club’s foundation. Reiser was an active member of the Whitehall-Bexley club until he died in 2004 at age 95. “After his death, he gave of his wealth.”

From time to time, Reiser had mentioned that he planned to leave some money to the club’s foundation but never gave any indication as to the amount. The bequest was disbursed in 2007.

“Rotary meant a lot to Karl because it became his family,” says Sheila Dunn, the first female member of the Whitehall-Bexley club, who joined in 1988 with Reiser as her sponsor.

Born on the kitchen table of his family’s Toledo apartment, Reiser lived a simple life, says Turner. After Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941, he was determined to serve his country, so after failing the U.S. Army’s physical exam, he volunteered with the Red Cross, working as a field director in the Middle East.

“He joined the Red Cross to work near the front lines,” Turner says.

After returning home, Reiser worked for several nonprofit organizations, including a stint as a director of Easter Seals in Ohio from 1962 until his retirement in 1978.

Because of Reiser’s generosity, the Whitehall-Bexley club foundation now has more than $600,000 in the bank. Only the interest accrued on the bequest will be used to fund grants and projects, Turner explains, so “the money will be there forever.”

The foundation is already considering several grants, including one to fund software for literacy programs and another to purchase equipment for the Bexley Police Department.

“Now we can do more,” Turner says.