Revealed: man who gave NTS £2.4m

POSING with his dog outside his Nevada home, this is the first picture of the modest American benefactor who posted cheques for millions of dollars to the leading heritage charity in Scotland, despite never having visited the country.

William Roberts Lindsay became one of the biggest donors in the National Trust for Scotland's history before his suicide in November. Although he has already given $3.7 million (2.4m) to the conservation body, his executor says it could be in line for millions more.

The picture shows Bill Lindsay, with dog Midget, standing outside his home on the outskirts of America's gambling capital, Las Vegas.

But a joint investigation by Scotland on Sunday and the Las Vegas Review-Journal has found that Lindsay did not make his fortune at the gaming tables but as a shrewd businessman who bought ailing companies cheaply and transformed their fortunes.

The unmarried 79-year-old left his beloved dog to his barber of 27 years, who found his body after he shot himself in a cupboard.

It is thought he took his own life because he was worried that poor health might leave him helpless and dependent on carers, as it had his late mother.

However, inquiries suggest Lindsay, a retired lawyer and investor with distant Scottish ancestry, had already given $15 million to various organisations since 1997.

Close to $4 million went to the NTS through its American fund-raising arm. Staff were stunned when a first handwritten cheque turned up in the post 18 months ago, with the amount of $2 million clearly visible through a thin envelope. A further 1.7 million followed last February, The trust's lawyers are now beginning an asset search on what remaining funds Lindsay held and where. His executor and close friend Vernon Hodge says he believes millions more may be uncovered.

Lindsay was born in Ohio and gained a law degree from Ohio State University. Both his father, Chester Lindsay, a wealthy lawyer, and his mother, Shirley Roberts, were said to have Scottish ancestry.

Never married, the trained lawyer, along with two partners, bought failing companies, turned them around and sold them for a profit. Lindsay talked of making a million dollars on the first company they sold on an investment of a few hundred.

His growing wealth bought him a coastal mansion in California before he retired to Las Vegas. But he always kept the first coin he earned on his boyhood newspaper round, a nickel, along with a signed card from Prince Charles, the trust's patron. Lindsay was courted for years by the trust's professional US fund-raiser, Johanna Gurland, after he gave an unsolicited donation to Glasgow University of 1.2 million in 2000. He had apparently been dismissed by some organisations he had approached as a crank.

While he developed a passion for Scottish castles, and learned from Gurland the story of Robert Burns, he never visited Scotland and never even talked of the Scottish connection to his relatives or friends.

Hodge became a neighbour and friend after Lindsay moved to Nevada. In his will, he left his house and coin collection to the retired University of Nevada chemistry professor. Two elderly cousins get $250,000 each.

"He had everything you and I could want," Hodge said. "Money, a house, his good health. And yet he was still unhappy for some reason. I think it was loneliness."

Lindsay was an avid fan of hockey games on television and mystery books. "He was a wonderful person and I talked to him every week," said his 83-year-old cousin, Lois Thompson, who lives in South Carolina. "I've been out there, and he took us to all the shows. He was not a recluse."

Lindsay's father and only sister died relatively young, Thompson said. His mother, though, lived into old age after a stroke that saw him nurse her with round-the-clock care. He later worried about his own health, from heart ailments to the fear of Alzheimer's, though he remained mentally sharp and was still doing his own income tax returns.

"He said he didn't want to end up like his mother," said Thompson.

It is unclear who else, or what, has received donations. A William R Lindsay of Nevada was listed as a "champion" of the American Heart Association for donors who gave more than $1 million, and Lindsay did wear a heart monitor. Thompson believes he may have given money, acting on her suggestion, to cancer charities or the American Humane Society for the care of animals.

"He was a good guy. He was so good, and he told me once if you ever need money all you ever have to do is call," said his cousin. "His mother told me once, Bill has the first nickel he ever made on his paper route. That's how you get money, you save every cent.

"We talked money once in a while. He said when you have it everyone wants it, and you don't know who to give it to."

She was "amazed" to learn of the Scottish connections after his death, she said. "One time he sent me a copy of a card he got from Prince Charles. I guess he had given to the things he was into. It was personal and I was amazed."

The NTS said it could not confirm if Lindsay, who gave anonymously, was the largest donor in its history, but he is certainly the biggest American contributor. "He was a millionaire who basically comes out of the mists and hands out a check for $2 million," said Curt DiCamillio, director of the trust's US foundation.

n For more pictures: www.reviewjournal.com.