Who spends $1.8 million on a lightly used red and black leather jacket? Formerly low-profile Austin businessman Milton Verret, who plans on leveraging the outfit Michael Jackson wore in the 1983 video "Thriller" for children's charities.
"In my mind, I wasn't going to pay more than $1.2 million," Verret said Friday about the Beverly Hills, Calif., auction Sunday. "And that's high. Then I thought I'd use it to raise money for little kids. So it became a kind of mission."
Verret is a lifelong collector — of cars and guitars, especially — and an astute trader, having made millions of dollars in the gold business.
A recent visit to Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas, however, rededicated the former television crewman to kids' causes.
"He's a very generous man," said Maureen "Missy" Wood, executive director of the Children's Medical Center Foundation. "We feel it's coming from the heart."
Groups such as the Make-a-Wish Foundation and ChildHelp had already received big chunks of the more than $700,000 Verret has given away in recent years.
"I saw all these kids pushing around little IVs, making their way to their books and things," he said of his hospital visit as part of the upcoming Cow Parade charity campaign, to which he has donated $50,000. "I've encouraged everybody to go volunteer and help there. It's a whole new chapter in my life."
Verret, 59, grew up in Beaumont, the son of an appliance dealer whose wife helped out in the family store. After high school, he became an electrician, then a lighting gaffer (or director) on TV series such as "Room 222," "McMillan & Wife" and "Happy Days."
"I learned discipline from top-notch directors," he said.
Verret returned to Beaumont in the 1980s to run a jewelry business. That's when he started trading gold. He has seen the price jump from around $300 an ounce to about $1,500 for the past few months. He wouldn't be surprised if it went higher.
"The U.S. debt is a serious problem," he said. "It's the biggest factor in gold going up."
A divorced father of four grown children with two small grandchildren, Verret checked out Austin in 1989 on the advice of a friend.
"In my mind, I wasn't going to pay more than $1.2 million," Verret said Friday about the Beverly Hills, Calif., auction Sunday. "And that's high. Then I thought I'd use it to raise money for little kids. So it became a kind of mission."
Verret is a lifelong collector — of cars and guitars, especially — and an astute trader, having made millions of dollars in the gold business.
A recent visit to Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas, however, rededicated the former television crewman to kids' causes.
"He's a very generous man," said Maureen "Missy" Wood, executive director of the Children's Medical Center Foundation. "We feel it's coming from the heart."
"I saw all these kids pushing around little IVs, making their way to their books and things," he said of his hospital visit as part of the upcoming Cow Parade charity campaign, to which he has donated $50,000. "I've encouraged everybody to go volunteer and help there. It's a whole new chapter in my life."
Verret, 59, grew up in Beaumont, the son of an appliance dealer whose wife helped out in the family store. After high school, he became an electrician, then a lighting gaffer (or director) on TV series such as "Room 222," "McMillan & Wife" and "Happy Days."
"I learned discipline from top-notch directors," he said.
Verret returned to Beaumont in the 1980s to run a jewelry business. That's when he started trading gold. He has seen the price jump from around $300 an ounce to about $1,500 for the past few months. He wouldn't be surprised if it went higher.
"The U.S. debt is a serious problem," he said. "It's the biggest factor in gold going up."
A divorced father of four grown children with two small grandchildren, Verret checked out Austin in 1989 on the advice of a friend.
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