Who are some geniuses or remarkable people who lived or still live a simple life, with no interest in glory or money?

In my opinion, the most water-tight case could be made only for those who pursued their calling all their life despite hardships and setbacks, and were recognized only in posterity as geniuses or remarkable people. There is also perhaps an insurmountable obstacle to accuracy. History being primarily a record of the dominant, records of men and of colonizers outweigh those of women and of the colonized, and the contributions of many of the latter are either irretrievably lost or awaiting rediscovery by careful and discerning historians.

Mine is obviously not an exhaustive list by any means, and many on it are/were recognized in their lifetime. And since I'm originally from India, I'm more familiar with Indians.

Genius

• John Clare. 19th century English farm laborer. Limited formal education. While he had some limited recognition in his lifetime, spent his last decades institutionalized. Nature poet whose genius is widely recognized only since 1980. Among the greatest Nature poets ever in the English language.
• Franz Kafka. Arguably the greatest writer of the 20th century, discovered by the world years after his death, especially since it took years for his works to be translated into the more widespread English. By all accounts, never interested in glory or money, quite unlike his friend and literary executor Max Brod.
• Srinivasa Ramanujan. Among the greatest of mathematicians. Dead by 32. By all accounts, lived a spartan life devoted to mathematics, uninterested in glory or money.
• Nek Chand. One of the greatest self-taught artists of the 20th century. For years, using discarded waste materials procured from demolition sites, worked surreptitiously at night in the city of Chandigarh to single-handedly create a vast sculpture garden, Rock Garden of Chandigarh. Unique artistic vision.

Remarkable people

• Umm Abdu. A woman doctor who chooses to stay back to save lives in Aleppo, Syria, even after she lost her son and husband in the ongoing civil war.
  ‘Hell is never far away’ - female medic risking her life for Aleppo
• Baba Amte. Indian social activist. Gandhian. Born into affluence yet gave it up to live a spartan life dedicated to the rehabilitation of the marginalized like lepers, people that mainstream society shuns.
• Vasili Arkhipov and Stanislav Petrov who, in two separate incidents during the cold war, made quiet heroic decisions at work that historians now suggest may have prevented nuclear war.
• Sunderlal Bahuguna. Environmentalist. Pioneer of the environmental movement in India. Originator of the 'Chipko' (sticking to trees) movement in Northern India in 1973. Lives a spartan Gandhian life till date.
• Nokutela Dube. The pioneer woman the world forgot. The pioneering woman the world forgot - BBC News. Now rightfully recognized as one of the builders of modern South Africa. Among her many accomplishments, first Black South African to start a school. The Ohlange High School continues to educate secondary school students even today.
• Firefighters the world over. Choose to run into fires to save lives when the rest of us are running the other way.
• Alice Herz-Sommer. Subject of the documentary The Lady in Number 6. Holocaust survivor. Survived the Theresienstadt concentration camp. When she died in 2014 at the age of 110, she was the world's oldest known Holocaust survivor. Concert quality pianist who said music saved her life. Practiced playing the piano everyday for the rest of her life. Taught music lessons. Another remarkable quality? Exquisite grace in forgiving what is unforgivable for many if not most of us.
• Father Bernard Kinvi, Catholic priest in the small town of Bossemptele in the Central African Republic. Saved at least 1000 muslims from certain death in the civil war that broke out in 2013.
  Father Bernard Kinvi, Central African Republic
  Act of faith: the Catholic priest who puts his life on the line to save Muslims in Central African Republic
• Jineth Bedoya Lima. Colombian journalist. Kidnapped not once but twice. Tortured and raped by paramilitary forces, a woman of astounding, even incomprehensible resilience. Now she works to make governments around the world confront the fact that armed conflicts make violence against women inevitable and also a lucrative business opportunity for instigators and profiteers alike.
  Colombian reporter Jineth Bedoya Lima gives voice to abused women
• Médecins Sans Frontières. Could some be in it for the glory? Maybe. Majority provide emergency health care in places where civilization itself has evaporated.
• The  extraordinary Mozambique women who clear landmines, deadly relics of the country's many strifes, particularly the civil war that lasted from  1977 to 1992. Clearing Land Mines Becomes Women's Work in Mozambique and Beyond
• José Mujica. President of Uruguay from 2010 to 2015. Donated most of his salary while continuing to live frugally on his farm even as the President. Declared personal wealth for 2010? $1800, the price of his 2nd hand VW beetle.
• Mgcineni Noki, the Man in the Green Blanket. When miners in the South African Marikana platinum mine went on strike in 2012, Mgcineni Noki emerged as a leader from among the crowd. Police heavy-handedness led to the death of 34 miners and he died trying to negotiate a peaceful agreement between management and workers.
  Marikana massacre: the untold story of the strike leader who died for workers’ rights | Nick Davies
• Jadav Payeng. Forest man of India. Single-handedly planted a forest in the Majuli island in the Brahmaputra river. A forest larger than New York's Central Park, it remained undiscovered until 2008, almost three decades after Payeng started his solo quixotic quest in 1979.
• Ronald Read. Vermont, USA, gas station attendant. When he died aged 92 in June 2014, it was discovered he had stock holdings and property valued at $8 million, all of which he willed to his local hospital and library. Frugal benefactor leaves millions to Brattleboro Memorial Hospital and Brooks Memorial Library
  The remarkable life and lessons of the $8 million janitor
• Search and rescue workers the world over. Provide aid, relief and succor during earthquakes, famines, floods, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions and other natural disasters, going into places that lack normalcy, safety and security, places that the rest of us flee.
• Stunt actors in the entertainment industry. Take all the risk. Get none of the glory.
• Germaine Tillion. Groundbreaking French anthropologist. Holocaust survivor. Wrote an unflinching account of her time in the Ravensbrück concentration camp. Living to the age of 100, she spent her life giving voice to the disenfranchised.
• Whistleblower the world over bring injustices, crimes and horrors to light at great risk to their livelihood and even their lives, and often get killed for their audacity to challenge the status quo. Usually the costs are so high that few are likely to do it for any purported glory or money.

https://www.quora.com/Who-are-some-geniuses-or-remarkable-people-who-lived-or-still-live-a-simple-life-with-no-interest-in-glory-or-money/answer/Tirumalai-Kamala