James Michener gave away about $117 million and left the bulk of his estate to Swarthmore College

Michener and his wife Mari gave an estimated $117 million to universities, libraries and museums during their lives, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy in 1997. Of that, $7.2 million went to Swarthmore College. They gave 376 works of twentieth-century American art to the University of Texas at Austin, now at the Blanton Museum. The University of Texas said in 1997 that gifts totaled more than $44 million; other sources say $64 million or $67 million, depending on how they count^†. Mari Michener died in 1994. Michener's will named Swarthmore the main beneficiary of his estate, estimated in 1997 at $10 million and possibly more once rights and royalties were counted. The final settlement was not found^†. Michener left no children of his own^†.