South Side millionaire Joseph Stancak’s wealth, generosity will help lives around the world

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What would you do if somebody out of the blue instructed you to count on a test for about $100,000 within the mail, no strings connected?In New Jersey, John Wisinger will pay down debt from his daughter’s marriage ceremony at The Park Savoy. It’s fancy. His marriage ceremony speech concluded with a mic drop that slayed. “My Lady” was performed for the daddy/daughter dance.On Chicago’s Northwest Aspect, a development employee, who requested to not be named — coming into cash will do this — plans to make a large dent within the mortgage he took out for a luxurious German automobile.Mike Griglak plans to retire to Florida, waving a remaining toodle-oo to Canada and its bitter winters.Goals like these are set to play out across the globe. And should you stick a thumbtack in every of them and hint with a string to their origin, they’d all lead again to a modest brick bungalow a few mile east of Halfway Airport in Gage Park.It was the house of Joe Stancak.<div class="Enhancement" data-align-center=""> <div class="Enhancement-item">

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<div class="Figure-content"><figcaption class="Figure-caption">The house on South Troy Road in Gage Park the place Joseph Stancak lived.</figcaption></div>

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</div> </div>In 2016, Stancak, described as a hermit and a recluse by the few who knew him, died at 87, forsaking no will, no speedy family and $11 million within the financial institution — the biggest unclaimed property within the nation’s historical past.His fortune remained forgotten for years.Then letters started displaying up in 119 mailboxes all over the world — every belonging to a distant relative of the South Sider.“Someday about two years in the past, my sister calls, and she or he says ‘Mike, did you get a letter about some relative who handed away, apparently there’s an inheritance,’” mentioned Griglak, 63, a retired Canadian oil sands employee who lives exterior Windsor, Ontario. “I mentioned, ‘No matter. Most likely some rip-off involving the Prince of Nigeria or one thing the place they are saying you’re in line for some cash, however, in alternate, they ask you to ship your private banking data.’ ”<div class="Enhancement" data-align-floatright=""> <div class="Enhancement-item">

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</div> </div>It took a substantial quantity of persuading from the individuals who lastly situated the cash and orchestrated the inheritance, however Griglak lastly accepted the weird circumstances as legit. And he turned excited. However not a lot due to the cash.“I used to be extra within the household tree,” mentioned Griglak, who’s spent a lifetime questioning about his household historical past — particulars his late father, Anthony, who emigrated from Slovakia to Canada and labored as a press operator in a metallic yard in Canada, by no means talked about.“I at all times used to search for the title Griglak in telephone books every time I traveled. When the web got here out I bought on there and began sending emails to Griglaks. However it by no means amounted to something,” he mentioned. “And now right here’s this man in Chicago I by no means heard of. I want I may shake his hand, study his life. Ask him the way it was that he was one among seven siblings and none of them ever had any children. However all of the siblings are lifeless. And I don’t know who to ask. So it’s sort of a thriller.”Particulars on Joe Stancak’s life are, certainly, exhausting to come back by. “No one knew him. You’re chasing a ghost,” mentioned Joe Mallack, a longtime neighbor of Stancak’s on the 5700 block of South Troy Road.Stancak lived on the block for many years and was one of many few residents who stayed as the world modified from Polish, Irish and Italian to largely Hispanic.Neighbors have been shocked to listen to of Stancak’s wealth. He was notoriously frugal. He frequently tinkered together with his electrical garden mower and beat-up 1985 Oldsmobile.“He requested me for a trip as soon as to resume his license as a result of his automobile wouldn’t begin, and I mentioned, ‘Joe, why don’t you get a brand new one?’ And he mentioned, ‘Oh, no, no, that is good, that is good,’ ” recalled Mallack.“The one time I used to be ever at his home was as a result of his electrical energy went out and he wished a hand as a result of he was at all times attempting to work on every thing himself, however there have been wires hanging from {the electrical} board and I simply mentioned, ‘Joe, I can’t repair this.’ However apart from these two occasions that he wanted assist, we by no means actually chatted,” Mallack mentioned.Most neighbors primarily knew him because the little outdated man who pushed a cart to the grocery retailer day-after-day, often with a newspaper tucked beneath his arm.When Danny Salgado, recognized on the block as “Shaggy” due to his hair, went up and down Troy Road gathering signatures handy in to Ald. Ed Burke’s workplace to get a block get together allow, Stancak put his title down.“And I might inform him to come back out for the block get together however he by no means did,” Salgado mentioned. “I’d inform him: ‘I bought a mechanical bull, piñatas, leaping castles for teenagers, folks cooking out, grilling, sharing meals,’ however he by no means as soon as got here out. He simply stayed by himself.”Mirna and Jesse Guzman lived subsequent door to Stancak and knew him by a sequence of temporary chats and over-the-fence observations.Stancak was a staunch vegetarian who opened one can of greens day-after-day and break up the contents for his lunch and dinner. And he picked raspberries from a bush in his yard that he tended with care, the Guzmans recalled.“Joe didn’t just like the odor of meat once we would barbecue. He would knock on his window and say ‘Noooo. Don’t do this,’” Mirna Guzman mentioned, noting that they reduce on grilling out of consideration for his or her neighbor.“He wasn’t disrespectful. Joe was simply Joe. You simply discovered to dwell with Joe,” Jesse Guzman mentioned.The furnishings in his dwelling have been humble, mentioned Mirna Guzman, who was inside as soon as. And he had a workshop in his basement and glued outdated radios and even constructed his personal welding machine, the Guzmans recalled.Not every thing about Stancak was frugal.He owned a 38-foot fishing boat named “Straightforward” that was in-built 1973. Karen Frainey, a niece by marriage of Stancak’s brother, John, mentioned she recollects as a younger lady attending household events and listening to Stancak’s absence at all times defined as “Oh, he’s on his boat in Hawaii.” Mirna Guzman recollects Stancak saying he as soon as labored for Commonwealth Edison. An organization spokesman mentioned a search turned up no document of his employment. Others appeared to recall he maybe labored as a mechanical or chemical engineer. Inquiries to engineering commerce teams yielded no outcomes.“He was a little bit of a hermit. I by no means actually noticed anybody go to,” Jesse Guzman mentioned.Even discovering an image of Stancak was a tough process. The Illinois Secretary of State declined to share a comparatively current picture used on his driver’s license. An image within the 1944 Gage Park Excessive College yearbook exhibits an undersized boy in a smile and a tie.<div class="Enhancement" data-align-floatright=""> <div class="Enhancement-item">

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<div class="Figure-content"><figcaption class="Figure-caption">Joseph Stancak within the 1943 Gage Park Excessive College yearbook.</figcaption></div>

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</div> </div>Two days earlier than Christmas in 2016, Stancak was discovered lifeless in an empty bathtub inside his Gage Park dwelling. There was no warmth or electrical energy in his home. And he was totally clothed, carrying a sweater and jacket.Neighbors observed his overstuffed mailbox and a stoop suffering from untouched newspapers and known as authorities.Firefighters compelled open a rear door.Authorities figured he tried to huddle within the tub for heat. Coronary heart illness was listed as his reason behind dying.The Public Administrator of Cook dinner County, whose workplace is meant to kind out the unclaimed estates of anybody with no family and possessions over $20,000, by no means took on Stancak’s case. A routine search mistakenly confirmed he had a sister, Helen, who was alive. So a letter was despatched to her final recognized tackle. The identical one the place Stancak’s physique was discovered. She’d been lifeless for years. The worth of his dwelling would have exceeded the $20,000 threshold, however the deed was in a belief so it wasn’t apparent that he was an proprietor.Staff on the health worker’s workplace performed a routine seek for subsequent of kin however discovered none. So protocol was adopted. And Stancak’s physique was cremated and interred at Mount Olivet Catholic Cemetery on the far South Aspect throughout a burial ceremony together with others who died poor or forgotten. It was presided over by a Catholic priest.It wasn’t till 2019, three years after his dying, that Stancak’s fortune started to come back into focus.That’s as a result of there’s a three- to five-year window that monetary establishments need to notify state authorities of dormant accounts.A sequence of notifications went to Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs’ workplace in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. A complete of $11 million in unclaimed property. Principally within the type of mutual funds, some shares and different accounts, together with $21,000 in two Financial institution of America checking accounts.The cash sat, ready for a rightful inheritor to indicate up. The one clue of its existence was an merchandise in a database of unclaimed property maintained by the Illinois treasurer’s workplace that, to thrust back fraudsters, merely signifies if the property related to any particular person is valued over or beneath $100.Ken Piercey, a Barrington legal professional, gained’t precisely say how he pierced that veil and located the actual quantity.“Commerce secrets and techniques,” he mentioned, noting he works with personal investigation corporations specializing in discovering high-value unclaimed estates.After they discover one, they set out searching for distant family. On this case, they discovered one in Minnesota who agreed to file a petition in Cook dinner County Probate Court docket to have Piercey named as administrator of Stancak’s property.Investigators then combed by obituaries, church and authorities information in the US, Europe and Canada and got here up with an inventory of 119 heirs — largely second and third cousins. Stancak’s household got here from Poland.The extraordinary case initially made headlines in October when Frerichs shared information of the largest-ever unclaimed property and heirs, a narrative that begged for particulars he couldn’t present.John Wisinger, 66, who’d by no means heard of Joseph Stancak, is expounded by his late mom. He feels a kindred spirit to Stancak’s Southwest Aspect working-class roots.“I grew up decrease center class in a row home,” mentioned Wisinger, an legal professional. “My dad and mom doted on me and did no matter they may for me. Children are crucial factor in your life and that’s the place the cash goes. Simply cross it on.”<div class="Enhancement" data-align-floatright=""> <div class="Enhancement-item">

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</div> </div>Wisinger mentioned if he may communicate to Stancak, he’d ask: “How did you spend your life? How did you make the cash? Why did the riches by no means actually influence the way you lived your life?”A small portion of Stancak’s wealth seems to have come from inheritances from a number of of his siblings, in accordance with Cook dinner County Probate Court docket information. However the place all his cash got here from isn’t clear.Piercey, who stands to make a portion of the inheritance for companies rendered, mentioned he not too long ago discovered new particulars of Stancak’s life as a result of a pal of his who’s nonetheless residing reached out to speak. However, he mentioned, the pal wished to honor Stancak’s desire for privateness, and the knowledge was shared in strict confidence.“You’re searching for a needle in a haystack, however, sorry, I can’t assist,” Piercey mentioned.Lt. Kevin O’Malley was overseeing the operation the day firefighters went into the house and located Stancak’s physique.O’Malley, who’s now retired, mentioned Stancak’s dwelling was in disarray.“Not rubbish and rats, simply stacks of magazines and letters and books in all places,” he mentioned, questioning aloud the identical factor that a number of of Stancak’s neighbors had puzzled: Had he gone senile?“This one upset us as a result of we simply felt unhealthy for the man. He may have been your grandfather. I thought of that man on a regular basis,” he mentioned.Police information present 12 payments of varied denominations totaling beneath $400 have been faraway from the house and inventoried.Additionally taken from his dwelling by police: a Crimson Ryder BB gun, private paperwork, a picket gun field, a black leather-like holster, three rifles, two handguns, 5 magazines and practically 200 rounds of ammunition.Again in Canada, Mike Griglak, like practically everybody else, isn’t certain what to make of the life or lonely dying of his distant relative.He hopes that if one thing good comes out of it, other than a wave of newfound wealth, it will likely be a get-together of all of the distant family that may lead to new friendships and a greater understanding of their shared previous. “Possibly I’ll even make a journey to the outdated nation and attempt to retrace my father’s steps earlier than he got here to Canada,” Griglak mentioned.“It’s vital to grasp the place you got here from, I feel.” </div><script>

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