Charitable Foundation

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”

In most ways, Karl Hanzelius was anything but your typical millionaire. He didn’t drive a flashy car; usually he walked or took the bus. He lived in a modest home. His wardrobe consisted largely of khaki pants and blue cotton shirts.

When he died last December at 98, Hanzelius left a million dollars to Truman Medical Centers, and numerous bequests to other institutions and organizations. He also left money to family members and neighbors – and $15,000 to the grocery store clerk who helped him shop for food in his later years.

“Most people who knew him were very surprised to learn how much money he left,” says Overton Durrett, his long-time attorney and friend. “He was a very private man, and few understood how well-off he was.

“He was living proof that people can make fortunes by living frugally and investing wisely.”

Born in Stockholm, Sweden, Hanzelius moved to America when he was two, and reached young adulthood during the Great Depression. He went to work for Skelly Oil Company in 1933, and remained there during his entire working career, retiring in 1973. He went to law school at night, and earned a Juris Doctor degree from the Kansas City School of Law, although he never practiced law.

“He always described his position at Skelly as ‘a stenographer,’ and his shorthand was very good,” says Mary Ellen DeVine, a long-time friend who had been a caregiver to other members of Hanzelius’ family. “But he was so humble. I think he did more than take shorthand. I know he was influential at Skelly. I talked to someone who used to work with him and he told me ‘we always knew if Karl said something wasn’t right, it wasn’t right.’”

Talk to anyone who knew Hanzelius and they will tell you how sharp his mind was, that he read voraciously and had a keen interest in the stock market.

“Very early on, he started working with a broker at Smith-Barney, who educated him about stocks and investments,” says his niece, Joanne Kirwin. “And he became very, very good at investing. He read the Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and Forbes, cover to cover.”

Also an accomplished violinist and artist, Hanzelius left bequests to the Kansas City Symphony and the University of Missouri – Kansas City. His largest gift, however, was to TMC.

A portion of Hanzelius’ bequest will be used to help acquire an important new tool for diagnosing illness in TMC patients: a 128-slice Computed Tomography or CT Scanner, which will provide much more accurate images than the current scanner, in a shorter time period. The other portion will be endowed to help provide health care in perpetuity for those less fortunate.

“My uncle was very concerned about people who can’t afford health care,” says Kirwin. “He believed it was important to help them. That’s why his gift to TMC is such a reflection of who he was.”

 
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