American philanthropist, the founder of the great California observatory known by his name, born in Fredericksburg, PA, on the 25th of August 1796. After spending many years in South America he settled in California in 1847, and there amassed an immense fortune. Though generally regarded as a man of solitary and avaricious habits, in 1874 he assigned real and personal property, valued at about $3,000,000, to seven trustees, to be applied to various public and charitable enterprises. Before his death several changes in his deed of trust were made and new trustees designated; but the provisions finally set apart $60,000 for the erection of a monument in Golden Gate Park to Francis Scott Key, author of the “Star-Spangled Banner;” $100,000 for the erection of a group of bronze statuary in front of the City Hall, San Francisco, representing the history of California; $150,000 for the erection and support of public baths in San Francisco; $100,000 to found an Old Ladies’ Home in San Francisco; $540,000 to found and endow the California School of Mechanical Arts; and $700,000 for constructing an observatory and erecting therein a more powerful telescope than had ever been made, the observatory to become a part of the University of California. Mr. Lick died on the 1st of October 1876, and in 1887 his remains were placed in a vault at the base of the 30-foot pier supporting the great telescope.
