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Upon his death, Thomas E. Wells' will provided for the "erection and maintenance, under jurisdiction of the Old People's Home of Chicago" of ten cottages to be known as the "Richard Arthur Wells Memorial."[1] I believe this is philanthropy and makes him a philanthropist. Rochambeau1783 (talk) 00:04, 30 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
A single mention in a newspaper article mentioning a bequeathment in his will from 1910, shortly after his death, is very poor for demonstrating that this particular trait is encyclopedically significant, especially as a defining trait for the lead of the article. The source doesn't appear to mention 'philanthropy' either, which adds WP:OR issues.
Whether out of altruism, for tax reasons, or for PR, most wealthy people have at some point or another given money away. This isn't enough to define them, and since Wikipedia isn't a platform for PR or hagiography, we need to hold these kinds of claims to a slightly higher standard.
To put it another way, almost everyone who has a Wikipedia article has many traits which could be applied to them. These traits do not automatically become defining traits. Grayfell (talk) 01:00, 30 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
