Commonwealth Network
James Lick made his fortune selling pianos in South America and then investing it in San Francisco real estate during the Gold Rush. His reputation as California's Stingiest Man was well-deserved: he wore old clothes that he fished out of garbage cans. A nephew who came to visit his prosperous uncle complained that he was made to sleep on top of an old piano! Lick repented late in life, giving the City a large monument to Western progress (on which he is prominently depicted). To the University of California, he gave his tombstone: Mount Hamilton's Lick Observatory. Lick is buried under the 36 inch refractor telescope that bears his name.