Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.

The Scottish author and playwright Sir James Matthew Barrie may be less well known than his fictional character Peter Pan, but if J.M. Barrie could not fly— or stay forever the same age — he brought as much sunshine into the lives of children as did his well-known protagonist. Barrie was inspired to write about the Lost Boys of Neverland by a real family he had befriended, the five Llewelyn Davis boys, who loved to listen to his stories, and laughed at the way he wiggled his ears. When the boys were orphaned, Barrie became their surrogate father. A ray of light to the last, he willed the valuable copyright for Peter Pan to the Great Ormond Street Hospital for children in London. In part due to his gift, the hospital would become one of the world’s largest centers for heart transplants.