The prosperity that Hepburn and Ross' enterprise brought Charles Hepburn allowed him to become a well known Glasgow patron of the arts, with him amassing a large collection of literature and books in particular.
He also collected various paintings, furniture, arms and armour, as well as oriental rugs.
He was also involved with the Glasgow Zoo (as was his colleague Herbert Ross), of which he became president.
He is widely credited for reviving the fortunes of the zoo in the late 1950s and early 1960s by renovating it and donating some of his own money to this end.
He bequeathed to Glasgow University a large number of books and manuscripts, some 300 in total, which are now held there as the Hepburn Bequest.