The Jack Thomson Arthritis Fund will be administered by the Otago Medical Research Foundation, which would award the first grant, of $35,000 to $40,000, later this year, foundation development director Steve Davie said.
From next year, two grants annually would be made.
The bequest was a "real fillip" for the foundation. Medical research funding in New Zealand was scarce, Mr Davie said.
"It is extremely exciting to be able to offer the catalyst to potential world-renowned study and discovery to researchers in this particular field."
It was likely most grants would be won by the University of Otago's Dunedin campus, but clinicians in private practice could devise research projects.
"The foundation anticipates all manner of research into the causes, treatment and, potentially, cure of the various strains of arthritis to be considered by those applying to have their projects funded."
Mr Thomson, a Dunedin chartered accountant, often spoke of wishing to fund research into the disease that robbed him of mobility though not his enthusiasm for life, Mr Davie said.
"He was extremely generous with his time, helping many clubs and societies with honorary accounting and auditing services.
"He had many friends from a wide cross-section of Dunedin society," Mr Davie said.
Mr Thomson was a keen traveller, photographer and fly fisher who followed many sports. He did not marry, and had no close family, Mr Davie said.
Jack Thomson
• Dunedin chartered accountant and arthritis sufferer.
• Died 2008, aged 83.
• Worked for Provident Life Assurance, WEC Reid and Co (now Deloitte) and Tomkinson Wood Adams (now Wilkinson Adams Lawyers).
• Retired in 1985, suffering debilitating arthritis in his later years.
The Bequest
• $2 million bequest to be managed by Otago Medical Research Foundation.
• Two grants annually of $35,000 to $40,000.
