Amelia Vega Hayes
Amelia Rosario Hayes (née Vega; 9 February 1945 – 26 November 2008) was a Filipino-born American working class woman who secretly became a multimillionaire when her former boss Mario A. Mario left her his fortune in a will from 1962 and passed away in 2002. Hayes first discovered that Mario was her former boss, and that his fortune was left to her, in 2005. Despite it, she never used any of the estate. She secretly left it to her grandchildren in a written will that required them to complete certain tasks before receiving their portion. The will was discovered in 2018 and made international headlines after all her grandchildren successfully completed their tasks and received their portion of the estate. Hayes' estate was estimated at US$501.382 million.
Her legacy has been memorialized through the Amelia Vega Foundation, founded by her granddaughter Josephine Dunham. She was listed in the Guinness World Records as the wealthiest person to ever have hide their fortune. She is buried at the Japanese Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon.
Her grandchildren include Jacob Dunham, Jennifer Ryan, Josephine Dunham, Jessica Dunham Ashe and Victoria Hampton-Chavez.