Extremely Humble Vet Credited With Anonymously Donating Millions to Charity

Owen Hearey/TN : Jun 24, 2006
Buffalo News

A report in the Buffalo News details the life of recently deceased 88-year old, WWII veteran Waldemar Kaminski, "who quietly ran a food stand in Broadway Market for more than 50 years, and was revealed to be a self-made millionaire and philanthropist who anonymously gave millions to Buffalo charities and neighbors in need. "

"He didn't want anyone to know him, but I just had to thank him," said Anne Gioia, co-founder of the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation, to which Kaminski donated several million dollars. "Now I think we should shout it from the rooftops...We were all afraid he would leave this world, and no one would know what constituted [his] greatness...He led a very clean, beautiful, uncomplicated life," she added. "He was a true philanthropist in every sense of the word."

Kaminski reportedly gave so much to so many that it's difficult to quantify just how much he's given. Besides donations to Roswell Park - including $1 million for an endowed chair in pediatrics and $1 million to build a two-acre park on the institute's campus -- reporter Owen Hearey says he "gave handsomely to other groups as well, including the Father Baker Home, the Salvation Army, Hilbert College and Camp Good Days and Special Times. He even helped neighboring families with mortgage payments, college tuition and lines of credit at his stand."

Nor were his sacrifices monetary only. The report states that Kaminski turned down a college scholarship so that he could continue working to help put his brother through medical school. His gifts were kept quiet both because of his deeply humble nature and for his personal safety, says Hearey, explaining that "Kaminski had been beaten and robbed several times over the years, and publicly revealing his wealth would only make him a larger target."