The suspense of an elusive lottery winner in Nova Scotia is finally over now that a publicity-shy retired fisherman has emerged to collect his $13.8 million Lotto 6/49 jackpot.

Leon Hirtle, who will celebrate his 78th birthday on Sunday as Nova Scotia’s newest millionaire, picked up the $13,805,045 cheque Thursday morning at Bridgewater Curling Club after winning the Oct. 1 draw.

The quiet-mannered senior from Bell Island, N.S., shied away from the public eye after winning the jackpot.

After winning the prize two weeks ago, Hirtle said he wasn’t in a rush to pick up the cheque. He told CTV News that he lives a simple life and he doesn’t expect it to change with the winnings. He even plans on buying more lotto tickets in the future.

“I’m quite content the way I am. If I had won $1,000, I’d be satisfied,” said Hirtle, who was dressed in a crisp blue-and-white checkered shirt and slacks.

The modest millionaire has never married and doesn’t have any children. Hirtle is the eldest of seven surviving siblings and says he intends to share most of his winnings with his family.

"Most of it will go to the family," Hirtle said of his winnings.

Hirtle, who started working as a fisherman at the age of 16, retired just two years ago. He lives with two of his younger brothers and plans to renovate the home he’s lived in for 45 years with some of his winnings.

“He’s a nice man, a real nice man. He’d help anybody that he can-- he always did. Anything that he could do he would do for you,” said Hirtle’s youngest brother, Frank.

“He is definitely a caring man that’s for sure – caring and hard-working,” Hirtle’s niece Felicia Hirtle, 22, said of her uncle.

Another niece of Hirtle’s, Trudy Corkum, described her uncle as “calm and casual.”

“How would you describe Leon? Calm and cool and casual. What you see is what you get,” Corkum said.

Hirtle bought the winning Lotto 6/49 ticket at the Bridgewater Pharmasave.

“Well, I took the ticket in to be evaluated and the girl, she looked at it, and she just stood there. She was stunned. She called another girl over and she looked at it and she said ‘Sure enough, he won,’ ” Hirtle recalled.

After validating the ticket on Oct. 3, Hirtle left town with his family to attend the 18th annual Scarecrow Festival & Antique Fair in nearby Mahone Bay, N.S.

Since the Bridgewater Pharmasave both sold and validated the ticket, the store will receive a 1 per cent seller’s prize of about $138,805.