My maternal grandfather died in 1973. Thirty-eight years later, which is to say last week, I discovered some of Manny’s property, escheated to the Massachusetts State Treasurer and awaiting claim by him or his heirs.

My grandfather’s unclaimed assets, as well as a long-forgotten bank account of my own, turned up when I searched for him (and me) at MissingMoney.com, a clearinghouse for unclaimed property. All but about a dozen U.S. states list their unclaimed property at Missing Money, and the states that don’t have similar online search pages of their own. (California and New York, for example.)

The money I found won’t make me rich, but it should just about cover a show and a nice meal when my sister visits next month.

And it turns out that “searching for other people’s unclaimed funds” is an amusing distraction.

Name Address Holder Amount Link
Mark Zuckerberg Los Altos CA Paypal, Inc. $308.62 link
Paul D. Ryan Janesville WI Sears $10-$100 link
Rupert Murdoch New York NY General Motors N/A link
Howard Winkelvoss Palo Alto CA Pacific Bell $321.00 link
Donald Trump N/A Bank of America $3,000.00 link
Charlie Sheen Los Angeles CA Paypal, Inc. $60.81 link
Charlie Sheen Los Angeles CA Entmt. Partners $517.00 link
George W. & Laura Bush N/A Bank of America $205.00 link
George W. Bush U S President 1st Bank of N. KY < $100 link
Rush Limbaugh Palm Beach FL News Corporation N/A link
Rick Santorum Washington DC N/A N/A link
Ruth Madoff Boca Raton FL Phoenix Companies N/A link
Kobe Bryant Newport CA CT General Life $232.00 link
Kobe Bryant El Segundo CA CT General Life $482.50 link
Dan Blagojevich Park Ridge IL CSG Systems $10-$100 link
Arnold Schwarzenegger Laguna Hills CA UPromise, Inc. $0.15 link
Oprah Winfrey Fisher Island FL Citizens Prop. Ins. N/A link

 

If Manny were still alive, he would show up at #7 on Wikipedia’s list of verified oldest people in the world. Life is short; make the most of it.