$425M Powerball Winner Creating Charity For Pediatric Health And Child Hunger; Also Wants To Stay Invisible
“B. Raymond Buxton” is all we know. And it’s all Buxton would like us to know. After winning the $425 million Powerball lottery nearly a month ago, the once “solidly middle-class American,” as described by his publicist, is now among the nation’s wealthiest. But rather than invest the money in frivolous pursuits, Buxton says he has plans of creating his own charity.
It’s a charity for kids, to be specific — a pediatrics foundation focused on areas of children’s health, child hunger, and education. Buxton has hired an attorney, financial adviser, and publicist to handle the logistics of winning nearly half a billion dollars. Part of that process is keeping his identity a secret. With the exception of his name, Buxton has revealed no personal information. Not his age, not his address, not even what he looks like.
"He really wants to live a private life as best he can," Buxton's publicist Sam Singer told The Associated Press. Buxton reportedly waited until April 1 to announce his winnings because he still had doubts that the win wasn’t a prank — an homage to April Fools’. On Tuesday the now-millionaire posed with the oversized check covering his face, above a Star Wars t-shirt that read, “Luck of the Jedi I have.”
Buxton, who’s been playing the California lottery for over 20 years, says he lost sleep over the winning ticket, which he purchased at a gas station outside of San Francisco. “Once the initial shock passed,” he said in a prepared statement, “I couldn't sleep for days."
The winnings were the largest in California history and the sixth-largest drawing of all-time. After the initial disbelief had worn off, when Buxton was sitting in front of his computer for hours checking and re-checking the winning numbers, he consulted the lottery Bible, the I Won! Now What? online handbook.
Now that the winnings are beginning to seem like reality, Buxton, a retiree, says he’s set to enjoy his new job of building the charity with his cool lump sum of $242.2 million — before taxes, of course.