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All of us will leave a legacy behind, but these seven famous Americans (and one Englishman) left legacies we're all sure to remember for generations to come.

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1. Benjamin Franklin A Renaissance man, Benjamin Franklin’s legacy includes many inventions that remain in use today – not to mention more than a few ideas that helped shape a nation. Always forward-thinking, he bequeathed about $4,000 each to the cities of Boston and Philadelphia, requesting that the money be held in trust for 200 years. By 1990, Boston had $5 million, which was used to fund a trade school, the Franklin Institute of Boston. Philly, meanwhile, had about $2 million, which was used for various civic and educational programs.

2. Andrew Carnegie One of the richest men of his time, Andrew Carnegie believed that it was the duty of the wealthy to leave the world a better place through philanthropy. His charitable efforts included funding schools, hospitals, and the arts, but his most important legacy is the funding of about 3,000 libraries in 47 states, and several others throughout the world. The Carnegie libraries became the backbone of a free, public library system.

3. J. D. Rockefeller

Standard Oil tycoon John Davison Rockefeller started a family tradition of philanthropy that continues to this day. He gave away about $550 million, founding Spelman College for African-American women and the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, and endowing many other entities. He also gave a dime to every child he met (though during the Great Depression, he switched to nickels).

Upon his death, J.D. Rockefeller’s fortune transferred to family trusts, where the tradition of philanthropy continued. His only surviving grandson, banker David Rockefeller, born in 1915, is planning a bequest of $250 million to fund the David Rockefeller Global Development Fund. Its goals are to fight poverty, develop trade, and improve relations between Muslim and Western nations.

4. Ted Turner The broadcasting mogul hopes to leave the world a better place with a legacy, already in motion, of large donations to organizations funding the United Nations’ work in developing countries with $100 million a year; he also is funding efforts to reduce nuclear proliferation with a $250 million-a-year effort.

5. Joan Kroc The widow of McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc devoted her life to a wide variety of philanthropic causes, but one of the most unusual gifts she made, six years before her death, was an anonymous $15 million donation to the citizens of Grand Forks, North Dakota, and East Grand Forks, Minnesota, after a flood devastated the cities in 1997. She died in 2006, leaving multi-million dollar bequests to public radio and peace organizations.

6. William Kent In 1907, tree-hugging congressman Kent and his wife Elizabeth Thatcher Kent donated 295 acres of old-growth redwood forest to the U.S. government in a savvy ploy to save the woods and the mountain above them. In doing so, he created the John Muir Woods National Monument, the first national monument created from land donated by an individual. Since then, many national parks and monuments have been created or increased in size by land bequests from people who wish to see natural places live on.

7. James Smithson The British scientist and investor never visited the United States, so it’s a bit of a mystery why he left his fortune to the U.S. upon his death in 1829. The bequest stipulated that it be used to found an educational institution, and the world’s largest museum, the Smithsonian Institute, well fits the bill.