Residents in Whitstable have been left speechless after a “secret millionaire” left £1.4million to local causes in her will.
Hilda Levi died in a care home in 2022 at the age of 98 and is buried in an unmarked grave in the town’s cemetery.
Despite living in a modest property - an unremarkable 1970s semi-detached house - Levi was extremely well off.
Her neighbour, Carol Mott, said: “Judging by appearances, you would have never guessed she was so wealthy.”
Hilda Levi died in a care home in 2022 at the age of 98 and is buried in an unmarked grave in the town’s cemetery
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The 98 year-old was buried next to the plot of a woman named Ellen Nora Jeffrey, who died in 1980 aged 95.
It is understood she never married and had no children, and as well as the property in Seymour Avenue, also rented a flat in London.
Until now, her life had been shrouded in mystery, with her neighbours knowing next to nothing about her and her donations “coming out of the blue”.
Mott said: “We haven’t seen her for some years and the house appeared pretty much abandoned,” with neighbours adding that the house and garden were in a poor state.
However, amateur genealogist Julie Hunt has pieced together the life of Whistable’s mysterious benefactor.
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Despite living in a modest property - an unremarkable 1970s semi-detached house - Levi was extremely well off
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Levi was an Jewish refugee who fled to England from Nazi Germany in the 1930s. She was made an orphan when her entire family was killed in the Holocaust.
An internee record from May 1941 confirmed Levi, then aged 16, was a “genuine refugee from Nazi oppression”.
She was later adopted by a family near Maidstone, and gained ‘naturalised’ status in 1958.
Hunt deducted that the woman she requested to be buried next to was her adopted mother - Ellen Nora Jeffrey.
Whilst the exact origin of her wealth is unclear, the amateur genealogist deduced that Levi had a wealthy uncle, named Herman Hecht, who could have given her part of his fortune.
He moved away to San Francisco from Nazi Germany when he was just 16 and made his money as a partner in a large coffee import-export firm.
When he passed away in 1951, he left his money - equivalent to £34.8million today - to his parents and siblings, as well as to distant relatives.
She also gave £500,000 to Age UK in the hope it would benefit the Whitstable branch
WIKICOMMONSIn Levi’s will, which was written in 1982, she left gave £500,000 to the Friends of Kent and Canterbury Hospital and £200,000 to the Friends of Whitstable Healthcare
She also gave £500,000 to Age UK in the hope it would benefit the Whitstable branch.
Moorfields Eye Hospital in London also received £200,000.
Reacting to the donations, Louise Coleman, the chairman of the Friends of the Kent and Canterbury Hospital, said: “It’s a huge amount of money for us and the biggest ever legacy gift in our 70-year history.
“Contrary to the norm, the League of Friends was informed at the end of the process, not the beginning, and the money has already been paid into the bank. This in turn has meant that we were able to approve two very large purchases for the hospital – an ophthalmology laser system and a urodynamics machine to a sum just short of £100,000.
“We didn’t know of Hilda, but her generosity will greatly improve treatment for patients.”
Hunt, who researched the life of Levi, told KentOnline why she chose to focus on the 98-year-old.
“I was just intrigued and thought there must be much more to this extraordinary woman,” she said.
