A faithful diner’s last will and condiments

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Bruce Lindsay knew a good bargain when he saw one: For decades, the millionaire ate three square meals a day in the cafeteria of tiny Vanguard University in Costa Mesa, surrounded by students who called him the ‘campus grandpa.’

When he passed away last month at 79, the college learned just what a generous tip he had left. He bequeathed his fortune -- amassed by buying up cut-rate oil leases and flipping beachfront homes -- to the Christian university, which like many private colleges across the country has been bedeviled by the slumping economy.

It’s not yet known how far Lindsay’s donation will go toward easing Vanguard’s mounting $42-million debt. The university is still calculating the value of his estate, estimated to be at least several million dollars.

But the beloved penny-pincher never married and had no children, and the university is his sole beneficiary. Read more here.