Bob Gault founded the Klondyke Garden Centres empire after he and his wife Dorothy bought a small piece of land near Glasgow more than 30 years ago.
It grew to become the UK's largest family-owned, independent group of garden centres, with more than 1000 employees and a turnover of almost £50m.
The father-of-three died in February, 2011, aged 65, after a battle with neurological condition multiple system atrophy.
Mr Gault's recently published will shows he had an estate valuedat £16,658,659 at the time of his death.
It included almost £15m in shares in his company as well as about £300,000 held in bank accounts. Mr Gault also had household contents and personal effects worth £56,129 and a £2000 BMW car.
He instructed that his wealth be passed on to his widow, whom he met at high school and married in 1965.
Mr Gault was the son of Milton of Campsie poultry farmers David and Nan Gault and was educated at Craighead Primary, where his headmaster had never seen a child with such a high IQ.
Mr Gault worked for several years for Vitamins Ltd, which supplied vitamin supplements for animal feed, as a sales adviser. In the 1970s, he and his wife began selling camping equipment including specialist tents and second-quality sleeping bags, regularly taking several stalls at Ingliston market near Edinburgh.
Moving the business to Kirkintilloch in 1980, they bought a patch of land with a single greenhouse Dorothy took on while her husband looked after the fertiliser and chemical side of the business.
The original centre gradually expanded, but, in 1981, Mr Gault was diagnosed with a rare and advanced form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Eighteen months later he was cured, and the couple bought the site of their second garden centre, in Stirling, in 1983. Three more Scottish centres followed, and in 1994 Klondyke acquired its first English site.
Concerned by the dominance of Scott's Miracle-Gro plant food, he developed a rival product, Magi-Grow, and for a decade Klondyke Garden Centres sold no Scotts products.
In 1996, the Gaults bought seven William Strike centres, and today the group has some 24 sites.
Following Mr Gault's death, Klondyke chief executive Bob Hewitt said: "Bob Gault will never be forgotten for his drive, enthusiasm and passion both for the Klondyke business and the Garden Centre industry.
"We owe it to him to continue to drive the business forward."
Mr Gault, who had five grandchildren, owned a 2800-acre estate near Dumfries and built up a herd of pedigree Galloway cattle.
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