'˜Secret millionaire' leaves Â£7m fortune to help fight cancer

Grahame Pincock donated a large part of his fortune to Marie Curie Cancer Care

Grahame Pincock, 90, forged a career as a modern languages teacher in schools across Glasgow while living in a modest £400,000 semi-detached home in the city’s Jordanhill area.

He eventually reached the role of principal teacher of languages before retiring. But he has left his former neighbours stunned after it emerged he had built up a £7,049,939 estate when he died in May.

Mr Pincock had spent his later years in a nearby care home.

His published will shows the bulk of his estate was made up of an extensive stocks and shares portfolio.

Records show he amassed 101,786 shares in drinks giant Diageo, which are valued at £2,31m. He also had £216,000 of shares in pharmaceutical giants Astrazeneca and a further £40,000 invested in Glaxosmithkline.

Mr Pincock ordered £10,000 to be awarded to war veterans charity Erskine and a further £10,000 to the Scottish War Blinded. Another £25,000 was given to a small number of family and friends.

The remainder of his vast fortune has been placed in the Grahame Winnington Pincock Charitable Trust and will be used to help those who are ill.

The trust has already made several donations to charity groups, including Marie Curie Cancer Care and Cancer Research.

Former neighbours of Mr Pincock told of their shock at how much money the “unassuming” teacher had.

One said: “Mr Pincock was a lovely man who probably had the best kept hedge in Glasgow. That is how I’ll remember him and I’m shocked to hear he was a secret millionaire. There was never any sign he was worth much money at all, but he was a very academic person so he would have had everything planned out.

“He lived in the house until he had to move into a care home and it was a sad loss to the area, but he will be well remembered by those who knew him.”

Another added: “He was very unassuming and lived what appeared to be a very modest lifestyle and their were no airs or graces about him.”

Shortly after Mr Pincock’s death, friend Ronald Nicolson said: “He stood out as a man of learning and of culture and was liked and respected in equal measure by his pupils.”