Leona Helmsley (1920-2007)

Trouble in Paradise

When Leona met property developer Harry, he was already rich and already married, and she was a real estate agent. Soon she was his wife, and they were creating a luxury-hotel empire.

She earned the nickname “Queen of Mean” among Helmsley hotel employees. She also did a stint in prison for mail fraud and income-tax evasion. At her trial, a witness testified that Helmsley said that ‘Only the little people pay taxes.’ Helmsley denied ever saying it, but the immortal phrase refuses to detach itself from her name.

If Leona had made an ordinary will – so much to family, so much to charity and friends - she might have salvaged some of her reputation. If she had made a generous will, she might have turned the tide in her favour. Instead, she bequeathed her enormous wealth in a manner that cemented her reputation for spitefulness, stubbornness and a challenged sense of judgement.

She wanted most of her fortune to go to Trouble and his kin. Trouble is a dog. Trouble is what he got.

When Harry met Leona

The surname Panzirer figures prominently in Leona’s will. When Harry met Leona, she was 52, and they had no children of their own. She had a son from her first of her three husbands - from four marriages.

Her first husband was Leo Panzirer – father of her only child, Jay, who died suddenly of a heart attack in 1978. He was 40.

Husband number two - and three - was Joseph Lubin. They married twice, with a divorce in between.

Depending on how you count them, Harry was husband number three - or four.

Soon after meeting Leona, Harry divorced his wife of 34 years and married Leona in 1972. Harry's success as a property developer is exemplified by the buildings he owned, which included the Empire State Building.

Harry died in 1997 and, childless (his buildings were his children, he would say), he left everything to his wife.

Leona brought radical change to the once anonymous Harry.With his first wife, he led a quiet life out of the public eye. With Leona, the low profile vanished. She starred in their hotel television advertisements, and both made news when they were robbed and beaten in a brutal robbery at their home.

Serious mental decline marked perhaps as many as ten of Harry's final years. Because he was mentally unfit, he avoided the 1988 trial that led to Leona’s conviction and imprisonment. He lived for more than a decade after that humiliation.

All’s Well that Ends Well, or Measure for Measure?

Leona’s 14-page will was accompanied by a two-page “Mission Statement” that she had written some years earlier. In its first draft, she declared that she wanted her charitable trust to help people as well as animals. Later, she removed the “people’ part of the mission.

With her only son having predeceased her, Leona left several million dollars to two of her four grandchildren, with a condition: they had to visit their father’s grave every year.

She left nothing to her other two grandchildren “for reasons which are known to them.”

She left other bequests, including several million for her brother, and $100,000 for her chauffeur. She also directed that her mausoleum be washed or steam-cleaned annually, and as her mausoleum is predictably oversized, she created a multi-million-dollar trust for that purpose.

But the bequest that made the headlines was the creation of a $12 million trust for the care of her 8-year-old white Maltese, the presciently-named Trouble. When his good fortune was announced, at least one person who had been bitten by Leona’s pampered pooch declared that, now that Trouble had the means, she might sue him. Death threats were also made against the dog, and in addition to providing funds to feed and otherwise take care of Trouble in the manner to which he was accustomed, tens of thousands of additional dollars were required to protect him.

Lawsuits were inevitable. People and canines alike and the very notion of personal freedom won or lost, depending on your point of view.

Trouble’s trust fund was reduced from $12 to $2 million.

The two disinherited grandchildren received $6 million each.

On the grounds that the “mission statement” was never – to the surprise of some lawyers - incorporated into the will or trust documents, its power was emasculated. The charity trustees could indeed support organisations devoted to human welfare. Many people argued that if Leona wanted her legacy to go to the dogs, then that wish should have been honoured.

The legal reversals perhaps represent rough justice. Jay Panzirer, Leona’s son, died intestate. Leona was very wealthy at the time, Mimi, her daughter-in-law was not. But Leona - with Harry's help - sued the estate. In fact, they brought at least six separate suits.

They won some, lost others but ultimately achieved their goal. They inherited most of the modest estate, impoverishing Panzirer’s widow and leaving a pittance for their grandchildren. Mimi knew that Leona despised her, but never learned the reasons.

UPDATE - APRIL 2009 The first distributions of the Helmsley estate - 53 charitable grants totalling $136 million - have gone to hospitals and medical research. Ten animal charities will share $1 million, including the ASPCA and groups training guide dogs for the blind.

UPDATE - AUGUST 2009 Three animal charities sued to get more Helmsley money spent on dogs.