Civic Education in Free Russia, they "jumped to the conclusion that he [actually] had given the money to the Bolsheviki for propaganda purposes" likely due to Thompson's controversial public opinions on the Bolsheviks and their role in the future of Russia. Philanthropy Plant research In 1920, he decided to establish the Boyce Thompson Institute , and endowed it with $10 million, a veritable fortune in the 1920s. He hoped that this "seed" money would enable the institute to acquire the very best scientists, equipment, and supplies and then to develop relationships with industry and the government to help finance research. Other causes He donated money for parks and libraries at many of his mining camps, including the Thompson-Hickman Memorial Library in his birthplace, Virginia City; his wife Gertrude Hickman Thompson officially transferred the building to the city in 1918. He donated $50,000 for a park in Butte. Boyce-Thompson also willed $1 million to his alma mater Phillips Exeter Academy and a significant gem and mineral collection to New York's American Museum of Natural History. His daughter, Margaret Thompson, and wife, Gertrude Hickman, inherited the balance of his wealth. In 1941, The Alder, Boyce-Thompson's 265 ft. motor-yacht, was given the U.S. Navy to aid the war effort. To the Phillips Exeter Academy, Thompson donated $2 million during his lifetime. His donations created the Boyce-Thompson science building, a new gymnasium in 1923, squash courts, a baseball field, sports cage, The Exeter Inn, and other facilities. Boyce-Thompson family The Boyce-Thompson family listed by ancestry/generation: William Boyce Thompson (1869–1930) (m. Gertrude Hickman) Margaret Thompson Biddle (1897–1956) (1st m. 1916 Theodore Schulze II div. unk.) (2nd m. 1931 Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle, Jr. div. 1936) Theodore Schulze III (1920–1962) (m. Joyce Ward) Joyce Schulze Charles Schulze Peter Schulze Margaret "Peggy" Boyce Schulze (1921—1964) (1st m. 1939 Prince Alexander zu Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst) (2nd m. Morton Downey) Catherine Hohenlohe (1942) Christian-Conrad Hohenlohe (1945) Legacy Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park - Sonoran Desert Arboretum Boyce Thompson Institute Thompson Park, Butte, Montana Fortunate for future historians, Thompson began writing his reminiscences before his death. However, a word of caution about Hermann Hagedorn's The Magnate, William Boyce Thompson and His Time (1935) based on this material. Journalist Hagedorn at times writes more hagiography than biography. For example, his depiction of George E. Gunn is libelous—Gunn was not a lowly miner/prospector born in Nevada and working in Montana when "discovered" by Thompson