By his own estimate, he had already handed out more than $1.3 million in Christmas cash. That season, four other Secret Santas planned to give away $70,000 of their own.
It was his last Christmas. Larry Stewart died on January 12, 2007, at 58.
The tradition did not end with him. A good friend took over as Secret Santa and, over the next decade, pushed the total past $2 million.
It had all started with a hungry young man's promise in a Mississippi diner, and a $20 bill that supposedly came from the floor.
