Leona Helmsley
Encyclopedia
Leona Mindy Roberts Helmsley (July 4, 1920 – August 20, 2007) was an American businesswoman and real estate entrepreneur. She was a flamboyant personality and had a reputation for tyrannical behavior that earned her the nickname Queen of Mean. She was promoted by the Beber Silverstein Group and its co-founder Joyce Beber
who persuaded her to call herself Queen of the Palace Hotel.
Following allegations by unpaid contractors that work done on her home had been charged to her company, she was investigated and convicted of federal
income tax evasion and other crimes in 1989. Although having initially received a sentence of 16 years, Helmsley was required to serve only 19 months in prison and two months under house arrest. Helmsley's fate was sealed when a former housekeeper testified during the trial that she had heard Helmsley say: "We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes...", a saying that became notorious and was identified with her for the rest of her life.
, to Polish Jewish immigrants. Her family moved to Brooklyn
while she was still a girl, and moved six more times before settling in Manhattan
. She dropped out of Abraham Lincoln High School to seek her fortune. In a short time, she changed her name several times—from Lee Roberts, Mindy Roberts and Leni Roberts. Eventually, she decided on Leona Mindy Roberts. She legally changed her surname to Roberts.http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/08/20/leona-helmsley-is-dead-at-87/index.html She was a chain smoker, consuming several packs a day. Helmsley would later claim that she appeared in billboard
ads for Chesterfield
cigarettes, but her claim remains entirely unsubstantiated.
Her first husband was attorney Leo Panzirer, whom she divorced in 1952. Their only son was Jay (1940–1982), who had four children with his wife, Mimi. Leona was twice married to and divorced from her second husband, garment industry executive Joseph Lubin. After a brief stint at a sewing factory, she joined a New York real estate firm, where she eventually became vice-president.
broker
in 1968 when she met and began her involvement with the then-married multi-millionaire real estate investor Harry Helmsley
.
In 1970, she joined one of Harry Helmsley's brokerage firms—Brown, Harris, Stevens—as a senior vice-president. At that time, she was already a millionaire in her own right. Harry Helmsley divorced his wife of 33 years and married Leona on April 8, 1972. Leona's marriage to Harry may well have saved her career. Late in 1971, several of Leona's tenants sued her for forcing the tenants of one of the apartments she managed to buy condominiums. They won, and Leona was forced not only to compensate the tenants, but to give them three-year leases. Her real estate license was also suspended, but she focused on running Harry's growing hotel empire.
Supposedly under her influence, Harry Helmsley began a program of conversion of apartment buildings into condos. He later concentrated on the hotel industry, building The Helmsley Palace on Madison Avenue. Together the Helmsleys built a real estate empire in New York City including 230 Park Avenue, the Empire State Building
, the Tudor City
apartment complex on the East Side of Manhattan, and Helmsley-Spear, their management and leasing business. The couple also developed properties that included the Park Lane Hotel, the New York Helmsley Hotel
, the Helmsley Palace Hotel, and hotels in Florida and other states. By the beginning of 1989, twenty-three hotels in the chain were directly controlled by Leona Helmsley.
Leona Helmsley was featured in an advertising campaign portraying her as a demanding "queen" who wanted nothing but the best for her guests. The slightest mistake was usually grounds for firing, and Helmsley was known to shout insults and obscenities at targeted employees just before they were terminated.
On March 31, 1982, Leona's only child, Jay Panzirer, died of a heart attack resulting from arrhythmia. Mimi, her son's widow who lived in a property Leona owned, received an eviction notice shortly after Jay's funeral. Leona successfully sued her son's estate for money and property that she claimed he had borrowed, and was ultimately awarded $146,092. Mimi later said the legal expenses wiped her out, and stated, "To this day I don't know why they did it."
In 1983 the Helmsleys bought Dunnellen Hall
, a 21-room mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut
, to use as a weekend retreat. The property cost $11 million, but the Helmsleys wanted to make it even more luxurious than it had been before. Jeremiah McCarthy, a Helmsley executive engineer, was initially put in charge of the operation. McCarthy claims that Leona repeatedly demanded that he sign illegal invoices designed to illegally bill personal expenses to the estate. According to Ransdell Peirson's "The Queen of Mean", when McCarthy declined to do so she exploded with tyrannical outbursts claiming, "You're not my fucking partner! You'll sign what I tell you to sign."
The remodeling bill came to $8 million, which the Helmsleys were loath to pay – as well as taxes written off the project. A group of contractors went to court to get most of the money; the Helmsleys eventually paid off most of the debt. In 1985, during these proceedings, the contractors revealed that most of their work was being illegally billed to the Helmsleys' hotels as business expenses. The work included a million-dollar dance floor, a silver clock and a mahogany card table. Enraged, the contractors sent a stack of invoices to the New York Post
to prove that the Helmsleys were trying to write their work off in this manner. The resulting Post story led to a federal criminal investigation. In 1988, then United States Attorney
Rudy Giuliani
indicted the Helmsleys and two of their associates on several tax-related charges, as well as extortion
.
The trial was delayed until the summer of 1989 due to numerous motions by the Helmsleys' attorneys—most of them related to Harry's health. He had begun to appear enfeebled shortly after the beginning of his relationship with Leona Helmsley years before, and had recently suffered a stroke on top of a pre-existing heart condition. Ultimately, he was ruled mentally and physically unfit to stand trial, and Leona had to face the charges alone.
At trial, a former Helmsley-Spear executive, Paul Ruffino, says that he refused to sign phony invoices illegally billing the company for work done on the Helmsely's Connecticut mansion. Ruffino, originally engaged to assist Helmsley through the Hospitality Management Services arm, says that Leona fired him on several different occasions for refusing to sign the bills, but Harry would usually tell him to ignore her and to come back to work. Another one of the key witnesses was a former housekeeper at the Helmsley home, Elizabeth Baum, who recounted having the following exchange with Leona Helmsley four to six weeks after being hired in September 1983:
Helmsley denied saying this. Helmsley's former employees testified at trial "about how they feared her, with one recalling how she casually fired him while she was being fitted for a dress." Most legal observers felt that Mrs. Helmsley's hostile personality, arrogance, and "naked greed" alienated the jurors
.
On August 30, Helmsley was convicted and sentenced of one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, three counts of tax evasion
, three counts of filing false personal tax returns, sixteen counts of assisting in the filing of false corporate and partnership tax returns, and ten counts of mail fraud.
She was, however, acquitted of extortion—a charge that could have sent her to prison for the rest of her life. She was sentenced to 16 years in prison, but eventually had that sentence significantly reduced when all but eight of the charges were dropped. Nonetheless, when it was clear she was going to jail, she collapsed outside of the courthouse, later diagnosed with a heart irregularity and hypertension.
She was ordered to report to prison on tax day, April 15, 1992, following an appeal that resulted in a reduced sentence. Her Federal Bureau of Prisons
(BOP) Register number was 15113-054, and she was released from BOP custody on January 26, 1994.
), estimated to be worth well in excess of $5 billion.
She had almost no friends but Dr. Patrick Ward, Kathy
and Rick Hilton
. A 2001 Chicago Sun-Times
article depicted her as estranged from her grandchildren and with few friends, living alone in a lavish apartment with her dog. In 2002, Helmsley was sued by Charles Bell, a former employee who alleged that he was discharged solely for being homosexual
. A jury agreed and ordered Mrs. Helmsley to pay Bell $11,200,000 in damages. A judge
subsequently reduced this amount to $554,000.
She was forced to give up control of her hotel empire, since New York does not allow convicted felons to have alcohol licenses; nearly all of her hotels sold alcohol at their bars. Mrs. Helmsley lived her final year at her luxurious penthouse atop the Park Lane hotel, with magnificent views of Central Park
.
Although Helmsley's reputation as the "Queen of Mean" is sealed, she became generous in her charitable contributions after her prison term. After September 11, 2001, Helmsley donated $5 million to help families of New York firefighters. Other contributions included $25 million to NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital
for medical research.
at the age of 87, on August 20, 2007, at Dunnellen Hall
, her summer home in Greenwich, Connecticut
. Cardiovascular disease
ran in her family, claiming the lives of her father, son and a sister. After a week at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel
, she was entombed next to Harry Helmsley in a mausoleum
constructed for $1.4 million and set on ¾-acres in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery
, Westchester County, New York. Among the few distinctive features of the mausoleum are three wall-embedded stained-glass windows, in the style of Louis Tiffany, showing the skyline of Manhattan.
Helmsley left the bulk of her estate—estimated at more than $4 billion—to the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust. She left instructions that the trust, now valued at $5 to $8 billion, be used to benefit dogs. The trust is not legally bound to these wishes.
She also left her Maltese dog, Trouble, a $12 million trust fund. This sum was subsequently reduced to $2 million. Her choice was branded 3rd in Fortune
's "101 Dumbest Moments in Business" of 2007.
Trouble lived in Florida with Carl Lekic, the general manager of the Helmsley Sandcastle Hotel, with several death threats having been received. Lekic, Trouble's caretaker, stated that $2 million would pay for the dog's maintenance for more than 10 years—the annual $100,000 for full-time security, $8,000 for grooming and $1,200 for food. Lekic is paid a $60,000 annual guardian fee." Trouble passed away at age twelve in December 2010, with the remainder of the funds reverted to the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust. Although Helmsley's wishes were to have the dog interred with her in the mausoleum, New York state law prohibits interment of pets in human cemeteries and the dog was subsequently cremated.
She left $15 million for her brother Alvin Rosenthal.
Helmsley had four grandchildren. Two of them each received $5 million in trust and $5 million in cash, under the condition that they visit their father's grave site once each calendar year. Their signing a registration book would prove that they had visited the grave. Her other two grandchildren, Craig and Meegan Panzirer, received nothing.
In a judgment (published on June 16, 2008), Manhattan
Surrogate Court
Judge Reena Roth ruled Helmsley was mentally unfit when she executed her will. Hence, the Court, amid settlement, reduced the $12 million trust fund for the pet Trouble to $2 million. Of the $10 million originally bequeathed to Trouble, $4 million was awarded to the Charitable Trust, and $6 million was awarded to Craig and Meegan Panzirer, who had been disinherited by the will. The ruling requires the Panzirers to keep silent about their dispute with their grandmother and deliver to the court any documents they have about her. It has been alleged that they were omitted from the will because they failed to name any of their children after her late husband.
Helmsley also left $100,000 to her chauffeur, Nicholas Celea.
as Leona and Lloyd Bridges
as Harry. Pleshette was nominated for an Emmy Award
and a Golden Globe Award
for the portrayal.
Joyce Beber
Joyce Beber, born Joyce Sacks, was an advertising executive who co-founded the Beber Silverstein Group and created numerous memorable campaigns for the Helmsley group of hotels,...
who persuaded her to call herself Queen of the Palace Hotel.
Following allegations by unpaid contractors that work done on her home had been charged to her company, she was investigated and convicted of federal
Income tax in the United States
In the United States, a tax is imposed on income by the Federal, most states, and many local governments. The income tax is determined by applying a tax rate, which may increase as income increases, to taxable income as defined. Individuals and corporations are directly taxable, and estates and...
income tax evasion and other crimes in 1989. Although having initially received a sentence of 16 years, Helmsley was required to serve only 19 months in prison and two months under house arrest. Helmsley's fate was sealed when a former housekeeper testified during the trial that she had heard Helmsley say: "We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes...", a saying that became notorious and was identified with her for the rest of her life.
Early life
Leona Helmsley, daughter of a hatmaker, was born Lena Mindy Rosenthal in Marbletown, New YorkMarbletown, New York
Marbletown is a town in Ulster County, New York, United States. The population was 5,854 at the 2000 census.The Town of Marbletown is near the center of Ulster County, southwest of the City of Kingston. US 209 and NY 213 pass through the town...
, to Polish Jewish immigrants. Her family moved to Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
while she was still a girl, and moved six more times before settling in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. She dropped out of Abraham Lincoln High School to seek her fortune. In a short time, she changed her name several times—from Lee Roberts, Mindy Roberts and Leni Roberts. Eventually, she decided on Leona Mindy Roberts. She legally changed her surname to Roberts.http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/08/20/leona-helmsley-is-dead-at-87/index.html She was a chain smoker, consuming several packs a day. Helmsley would later claim that she appeared in billboard
Billboard (advertising)
A billboard is a large outdoor advertising structure , typically found in high traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertisements to passing pedestrians and drivers...
ads for Chesterfield
Chesterfield (cigarette)
Chesterfield is a brand of cigarette made by Altria. It was one of the most recognized brands of the early 20th century, but sales have declined steadily over the years. It was named for Chesterfield County, Virginia. Chesterfield is still being made today; it is still popular in Europe, but has...
cigarettes, but her claim remains entirely unsubstantiated.
Her first husband was attorney Leo Panzirer, whom she divorced in 1952. Their only son was Jay (1940–1982), who had four children with his wife, Mimi. Leona was twice married to and divorced from her second husband, garment industry executive Joseph Lubin. After a brief stint at a sewing factory, she joined a New York real estate firm, where she eventually became vice-president.
Hotel career
Leona Roberts was a real estate salesperson in 1964 when Abe Hirschfeld hired her to sit in the lobby and sell co-ops at 925 Park Avenue in New York. Leona was a condominiumCondominium
A condominium, or condo, is the form of housing tenure and other real property where a specified part of a piece of real estate is individually owned while use of and access to common facilities in the piece such as hallways, heating system, elevators, exterior areas is executed under legal rights...
broker
Broker
A broker is a party that arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller, and gets a commission when the deal is executed. A broker who also acts as a seller or as a buyer becomes a principal party to the deal...
in 1968 when she met and began her involvement with the then-married multi-millionaire real estate investor Harry Helmsley
Harry Helmsley
Harry B. Helmsley was an Americanentrepreneur who built a company that became one of the biggest property holders in the United States...
.
In 1970, she joined one of Harry Helmsley's brokerage firms—Brown, Harris, Stevens—as a senior vice-president. At that time, she was already a millionaire in her own right. Harry Helmsley divorced his wife of 33 years and married Leona on April 8, 1972. Leona's marriage to Harry may well have saved her career. Late in 1971, several of Leona's tenants sued her for forcing the tenants of one of the apartments she managed to buy condominiums. They won, and Leona was forced not only to compensate the tenants, but to give them three-year leases. Her real estate license was also suspended, but she focused on running Harry's growing hotel empire.
Empire State Building
The Empire State Building is a 102-story landmark skyscraper and American cultural icon in New York City at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. It has a roof height of 1,250 feet , and with its antenna spire included, it stands a total of 1,454 ft high. Its name is derived...
, the Tudor City
Tudor City
Tudor City is an apartment complex located on the East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It is the first residential skyscraper complex in the world. It is bordered by East 40th Street to the south, First Avenue to the east, Second Avenue to the west, and East 43rd Street to the north...
apartment complex on the East Side of Manhattan, and Helmsley-Spear, their management and leasing business. The couple also developed properties that included the Park Lane Hotel, the New York Helmsley Hotel
The New York Helmsley Hotel
The New York Helmsley Hotel is a modern, business-oriented hotel in New York City, New York. It is approximately two blocks west of the United Nations headquarters and a little more than one block east of Grand Central Terminal....
, the Helmsley Palace Hotel, and hotels in Florida and other states. By the beginning of 1989, twenty-three hotels in the chain were directly controlled by Leona Helmsley.
Leona Helmsley was featured in an advertising campaign portraying her as a demanding "queen" who wanted nothing but the best for her guests. The slightest mistake was usually grounds for firing, and Helmsley was known to shout insults and obscenities at targeted employees just before they were terminated.
On March 31, 1982, Leona's only child, Jay Panzirer, died of a heart attack resulting from arrhythmia. Mimi, her son's widow who lived in a property Leona owned, received an eviction notice shortly after Jay's funeral. Leona successfully sued her son's estate for money and property that she claimed he had borrowed, and was ultimately awarded $146,092. Mimi later said the legal expenses wiped her out, and stated, "To this day I don't know why they did it."
Tax evasion conviction
Despite the Helmsleys' tremendous wealth (net worth over a billion dollars), they were known for disputing payments to contractors and vendors. One of these disputes would prove to be their undoing.In 1983 the Helmsleys bought Dunnellen Hall
Dunnellen Hall
Dunnellen Hall is a private mansion located in Greenwich, Connecticut, USA. It was sold by the estate of Leona Helmsley for $35,000,000, down from the original asking price of $125,000,000 when it was first put up on the market in 2008....
, a 21-room mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut
Greenwich, Connecticut
Greenwich is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town had a total population of 61,171. It is home to many hedge funds and other financial service companies. Greenwich is the southernmost and westernmost municipality in Connecticut and is 38+ minutes ...
, to use as a weekend retreat. The property cost $11 million, but the Helmsleys wanted to make it even more luxurious than it had been before. Jeremiah McCarthy, a Helmsley executive engineer, was initially put in charge of the operation. McCarthy claims that Leona repeatedly demanded that he sign illegal invoices designed to illegally bill personal expenses to the estate. According to Ransdell Peirson's "The Queen of Mean", when McCarthy declined to do so she exploded with tyrannical outbursts claiming, "You're not my fucking partner! You'll sign what I tell you to sign."
The remodeling bill came to $8 million, which the Helmsleys were loath to pay – as well as taxes written off the project. A group of contractors went to court to get most of the money; the Helmsleys eventually paid off most of the debt. In 1985, during these proceedings, the contractors revealed that most of their work was being illegally billed to the Helmsleys' hotels as business expenses. The work included a million-dollar dance floor, a silver clock and a mahogany card table. Enraged, the contractors sent a stack of invoices to the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
to prove that the Helmsleys were trying to write their work off in this manner. The resulting Post story led to a federal criminal investigation. In 1988, then United States Attorney
United States Attorney
United States Attorneys represent the United States federal government in United States district court and United States court of appeals. There are 93 U.S. Attorneys stationed throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands...
Rudy Giuliani
Rudy Giuliani
Rudolph William Louis "Rudy" Giuliani KBE is an American lawyer, businessman, and politician from New York. He served as Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001....
indicted the Helmsleys and two of their associates on several tax-related charges, as well as extortion
Extortion
Extortion is a criminal offence which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion. Refraining from doing harm is sometimes euphemistically called protection. Extortion is commonly practiced by organized crime...
.
The trial was delayed until the summer of 1989 due to numerous motions by the Helmsleys' attorneys—most of them related to Harry's health. He had begun to appear enfeebled shortly after the beginning of his relationship with Leona Helmsley years before, and had recently suffered a stroke on top of a pre-existing heart condition. Ultimately, he was ruled mentally and physically unfit to stand trial, and Leona had to face the charges alone.
At trial, a former Helmsley-Spear executive, Paul Ruffino, says that he refused to sign phony invoices illegally billing the company for work done on the Helmsely's Connecticut mansion. Ruffino, originally engaged to assist Helmsley through the Hospitality Management Services arm, says that Leona fired him on several different occasions for refusing to sign the bills, but Harry would usually tell him to ignore her and to come back to work. Another one of the key witnesses was a former housekeeper at the Helmsley home, Elizabeth Baum, who recounted having the following exchange with Leona Helmsley four to six weeks after being hired in September 1983:
I said: "You must pay a lot of taxes". She said: "We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes."
–Elizabeth Baum, former housekeeper to Helmsley (October 1983)
Helmsley denied saying this. Helmsley's former employees testified at trial "about how they feared her, with one recalling how she casually fired him while she was being fitted for a dress." Most legal observers felt that Mrs. Helmsley's hostile personality, arrogance, and "naked greed" alienated the jurors
Jury
A jury is a sworn body of people convened to render an impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Modern juries tend to be found in courts to ascertain the guilt, or lack thereof, in a crime. In Anglophone jurisdictions, the verdict may be guilty,...
.
On August 30, Helmsley was convicted and sentenced of one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, three counts of tax evasion
Tax avoidance and tax evasion
Tax noncompliance describes a range of activities that are unfavorable to a state's tax system. These include tax avoidance, which refers to reducing taxes by legal means, and tax evasion which refers to the criminal non-payment of tax liabilities....
, three counts of filing false personal tax returns, sixteen counts of assisting in the filing of false corporate and partnership tax returns, and ten counts of mail fraud.
She was, however, acquitted of extortion—a charge that could have sent her to prison for the rest of her life. She was sentenced to 16 years in prison, but eventually had that sentence significantly reduced when all but eight of the charges were dropped. Nonetheless, when it was clear she was going to jail, she collapsed outside of the courthouse, later diagnosed with a heart irregularity and hypertension.
She was ordered to report to prison on tax day, April 15, 1992, following an appeal that resulted in a reduced sentence. Her Federal Bureau of Prisons
Federal Bureau of Prisons
The Federal Bureau of Prisons is a federal law enforcement agency subdivision of the United States Department of Justice and is responsible for the administration of the federal prison system. The system also handles prisoners who committed acts considered felonies under the District of Columbia's...
(BOP) Register number was 15113-054, and she was released from BOP custody on January 26, 1994.
After prison
Helmsley served 18 months in federal prison. Her later years were apparently spent in isolation, especially after Harry died in 1997, leaving Leona his entire fortune (including the Helmsley hotels, the Helmsley Palace and the Empire State BuildingEmpire State Building
The Empire State Building is a 102-story landmark skyscraper and American cultural icon in New York City at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. It has a roof height of 1,250 feet , and with its antenna spire included, it stands a total of 1,454 ft high. Its name is derived...
), estimated to be worth well in excess of $5 billion.
She had almost no friends but Dr. Patrick Ward, Kathy
Kathy Hilton
Kathleen Elizabeth "Kathy" Hilton is an American actress. She is the mother of Paris Hilton and Nicky Hilton.-Personal life and family:...
and Rick Hilton
Richard Hilton
Richard Howard "Rick" Hilton is an American entrepreneur and hotelier. He is the Chairman and co-founder of Hilton & Hyland, a real estate brokerages firm based in Beverly Hills that specializes in homes and estates in Beverly Hills, Holmby Hills, Bel-Air, Brentwood, Pacific Palisades, Malibu, and...
. A 2001 Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
article depicted her as estranged from her grandchildren and with few friends, living alone in a lavish apartment with her dog. In 2002, Helmsley was sued by Charles Bell, a former employee who alleged that he was discharged solely for being homosexual
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
. A jury agreed and ordered Mrs. Helmsley to pay Bell $11,200,000 in damages. A judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
subsequently reduced this amount to $554,000.
She was forced to give up control of her hotel empire, since New York does not allow convicted felons to have alcohol licenses; nearly all of her hotels sold alcohol at their bars. Mrs. Helmsley lived her final year at her luxurious penthouse atop the Park Lane hotel, with magnificent views of Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
.
Although Helmsley's reputation as the "Queen of Mean" is sealed, she became generous in her charitable contributions after her prison term. After September 11, 2001, Helmsley donated $5 million to help families of New York firefighters. Other contributions included $25 million to NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital
NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital
NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital is a prominent university hospital in New York City affiliated with two Ivy League medical schools: Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons and Cornell University's Weill Medical College. It is composed of two distinct medical centers, Columbia...
for medical research.
Death
Leona Helmsley died from congestive heart failureCongestive heart failure
Heart failure often called congestive heart failure is generally defined as the inability of the heart to supply sufficient blood flow to meet the needs of the body. Heart failure can cause a number of symptoms including shortness of breath, leg swelling, and exercise intolerance. The condition...
at the age of 87, on August 20, 2007, at Dunnellen Hall
Dunnellen Hall
Dunnellen Hall is a private mansion located in Greenwich, Connecticut, USA. It was sold by the estate of Leona Helmsley for $35,000,000, down from the original asking price of $125,000,000 when it was first put up on the market in 2008....
, her summer home in Greenwich, Connecticut
Greenwich, Connecticut
Greenwich is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town had a total population of 61,171. It is home to many hedge funds and other financial service companies. Greenwich is the southernmost and westernmost municipality in Connecticut and is 38+ minutes ...
. Cardiovascular disease
Cardiovascular disease
Heart disease or cardiovascular disease are the class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels . While the term technically refers to any disease that affects the cardiovascular system , it is usually used to refer to those related to atherosclerosis...
ran in her family, claiming the lives of her father, son and a sister. After a week at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel
Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel
The Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel is a funeral home currently on Madison Avenue at 81st Street in Manhattan. Founded in 1898 as Frank E. Campbell Burial and Cremation Company, the company is now owned by Service Corporation International....
, she was entombed next to Harry Helmsley in a mausoleum
Mausoleum
A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or persons. A monument without the interment is a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type of tomb or the tomb may be considered to be within the...
constructed for $1.4 million and set on ¾-acres in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery
Sleepy Hollow Cemetery
Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York is the resting place of numerous famous figures, including Washington Irving, whose story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is set in the adjacent Old Dutch Burying Ground. Incorporated in 1849 as Tarrytown Cemetery, it posthumously honored Irving's...
, Westchester County, New York. Among the few distinctive features of the mausoleum are three wall-embedded stained-glass windows, in the style of Louis Tiffany, showing the skyline of Manhattan.
She also left her Maltese dog, Trouble, a $12 million trust fund. This sum was subsequently reduced to $2 million. Her choice was branded 3rd in Fortune
Fortune (magazine)
Fortune is a global business magazine published by Time Inc. Founded by Henry Luce in 1930, the publishing business, consisting of Time, Life, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated, grew to become Time Warner. In turn, AOL grew as it acquired Time Warner in 2000 when Time Warner was the world's largest...
's "101 Dumbest Moments in Business" of 2007.
Trouble lived in Florida with Carl Lekic, the general manager of the Helmsley Sandcastle Hotel, with several death threats having been received. Lekic, Trouble's caretaker, stated that $2 million would pay for the dog's maintenance for more than 10 years—the annual $100,000 for full-time security, $8,000 for grooming and $1,200 for food. Lekic is paid a $60,000 annual guardian fee." Trouble passed away at age twelve in December 2010, with the remainder of the funds reverted to the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust. Although Helmsley's wishes were to have the dog interred with her in the mausoleum, New York state law prohibits interment of pets in human cemeteries and the dog was subsequently cremated.
She left $15 million for her brother Alvin Rosenthal.
Helmsley had four grandchildren. Two of them each received $5 million in trust and $5 million in cash, under the condition that they visit their father's grave site once each calendar year. Their signing a registration book would prove that they had visited the grave. Her other two grandchildren, Craig and Meegan Panzirer, received nothing.
In a judgment (published on June 16, 2008), Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
Surrogate Court
New York Surrogate's Court
The Surrogate's Court handles all probate and estate proceedings in the state of New York. All wills are probated in this court and all estates of people who die without a will are handled in this court...
Judge Reena Roth ruled Helmsley was mentally unfit when she executed her will. Hence, the Court, amid settlement, reduced the $12 million trust fund for the pet Trouble to $2 million. Of the $10 million originally bequeathed to Trouble, $4 million was awarded to the Charitable Trust, and $6 million was awarded to Craig and Meegan Panzirer, who had been disinherited by the will. The ruling requires the Panzirers to keep silent about their dispute with their grandmother and deliver to the court any documents they have about her. It has been alleged that they were omitted from the will because they failed to name any of their children after her late husband.
Helmsley also left $100,000 to her chauffeur, Nicholas Celea.
"Queen of Mean"
- "Lawyer Alan DershowitzAlan DershowitzAlan Morton Dershowitz is an American lawyer, jurist, and political commentator. He has spent most of his career at Harvard Law School where in 1967, at the age of 28, he became the youngest full professor of law in its history...
said he once had breakfast with Leona at one of the Helmsley hotels and the waiter brought him a cup of tea with a tiny bit of water spilled on the saucerSaucerA saucer is a small type of dishware, a plate that is specifically used with and for supporting a cup – a cylindrical cup intended for coffee or a half-sphere teacup for tea. Additionally, the saucer is a distant cousin to the plate. The saucer has a raised centre with a depression sized to fit a...
. Alan says Leona grabbed the cup from him and smashed it on the floor, then demanded that the waiter get down on his hands and knees and beg for his job."
- Helmsley had a barbecueBarbecueBarbecue or barbeque , used chiefly in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia is a method and apparatus for cooking meat, poultry and occasionally fish with the heat and hot smoke of a fire, smoking wood, or hot coals of...
pit constructed for her home. The work was performed by Eugene Brennan, a personal friend of Jeremiah McCarthy, the chief engineer of Helmsley-Spear. When the final bill came to $13,000, she refused to pay, citing shoddy workmanship. When McCarthy pleaded with her to honor the bill, citing the favor done on his behalf and informing her that Brennan had six children to support, Helmsley replied, "Why didn't he keep his pants on? Then he wouldn't need the money."
In popular culture
- Her last name was adopted by WWE wrestler Triple H (Hunter Hearst Helmsley).
- Helmsley was lampooned by Nora DunnNora DunnNora Eloise Dunn is an American actress and comedian, perhaps best known for her work on NBC's Saturday Night Live.-Early life:...
on several episodes of Saturday Night LiveSaturday Night LiveSaturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
in the late 1980s. - Helmsley was a frequent butt of Kevin NealonKevin NealonKevin Nealon is an American actor and comedian, best known as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1986 to 1995, acting in several of the Happy Madison films, for playing Doug Wilson on the Showtime series Weeds, and providing the voice of the title character, Glenn Martin on Glenn Martin,...
's jokes during his stint as anchor of SNL's Weekend Update. - Helmsley was a recurring character in the comic strip Zippy the PinheadZippy the PinheadZippy is an American comic strip created by Bill Griffith. The character of Zippy the Pinhead initially appeared in underground publications during the 1970s...
. - Her 'dog' appeared in a 2007 series of Mother Goose and GrimmMother Goose and GrimmMother Goose and Grimm is an internationally syndicated comic strip by Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Mike Peters. It was first syndicated in 1984 and is distributed by King Features Syndicate to more than 800 newspapers...
comics. - The nickname "Queen Of Mean" has since been adopted by insult comic Lisa LampanelliLisa LampanelliLisa Lampanelli is an American stand-up comedian and insult comic. She is noted for her racy and raunchy style of comedy, which frequently includes taboo subjects such as race and homosexuality....
. - Two The Far SideThe Far SideThe Far Side is a popular single-panel comic created by Gary Larson and syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate, which ran from January 1, 1980, to January 1, 1995. Its surrealistic humor is often based on uncomfortable social situations, improbable events, an anthropomorphic view of the world,...
comics featured her as the subject. - In the late eighties, Howard Stern Show cast member and voice actor Billy WestBilly WestWilliam Richard "Billy" West is an American voice actor. Born in Detroit but raised in the Roslindale neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, Billy launched his career in the early 1980s performing daily comedic routines on Boston's WBCN. He left the radio station to work on the short-lived revival...
had a recurring role on the show impersonating Helmsley, painting her as a racist and a homophobe. - She was lampooned as the villain of the 1991 computer adventure game, The Adventures of Willy BeamishThe Adventures of Willy BeamishThe Adventures of Willy Beamish is a graphic adventure game developed by Dynamix, using their newly developed Dynamix Game Development System . It was published in 1991 by Sierra Entertainment. The player takes on the role of nine-year-old Willy Beamish in a humorous graphic adventure that is...
, produced by DynamixDynamixDynamix, Inc. was an American developer of computer games from 1984 to 2001, best known for their flight simulator, Red Baron, the Front Page Sports series, Betrayal at Krondor, and their online multiplayer game, Tribes.-History:...
. - In the popular show FrasierFrasierFrasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...
she and Zsa Zsa GaborZsa Zsa GaborZsa Zsa Gabor is a Hungarian-born American stage, film and television actress.She acted on stage in Vienna, Austria, in 1932, and was crowned Miss Hungary in 1936. She emigrated to the United States in 1941 and became a sought-after actress with "European flair and style", with a personality that...
are referred to jokingly as victims of a legal system biased against wealthy white women. - Director Tim BurtonTim BurtonTimothy William "Tim" Burton is an American film director, film producer, writer and artist. He is famous for dark, quirky-themed movies such as Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet...
stated that Helena Bonham CarterHelena Bonham CarterHelena Bonham Carter is an English actress of film, stage, and television. She made her acting debut in a television adaptation of K. M. Peyton's A Pattern of Roses before winning her first film role as the titular character in Lady Jane...
's performance as the Red Queen in the 2010 film Alice in WonderlandAlice in Wonderland (2010 film)Alice in Wonderland is a 2010 American computer-animated/live action fantasy adventure film directed by Tim Burton, written by Linda Woolverton, and released by Walt Disney Pictures...
was partly based on her. - In the 30 Rock30 Rock30 Rock is an American television comedy series created by Tina Fey that airs on NBC. The series is loosely based on Fey's experiences as head writer for Saturday Night Live...
episode Succession, Don Geiss remarks that Liz has "the charm and spark of a young Leona Helmsley." - One of Spy magazineSpy (magazine)Spy was a satirical monthly magazine founded in 1986 by Kurt Andersen and E. Graydon Carter, who served as its first editors, and Thomas L. Phillips, Jr., its first publisher. After one folding and a rebirth, it ceased publication in 1998...
's most famous "Separated at BirthSeparated at birthSeparated at birth, usually phrased as a question, is a light-hearted media device for pointing out people who are unrelated but bear a notable facial resemblance, implying that they are twins who were separated soon after being born and presumably adopted by separate families.The title "Separated...
" pictorials featured Helmsley side-by-side with The JokerJoker (comics)The Joker is a fictional character, a comic book supervillain published by DC Comics. He is the archenemy of Batman, having been directly responsible for numerous tragedies in Batman's life, including the paralysis of Barbara Gordon and the death of Jason Todd, the second Robin...
as portrayed by Jack NicholsonJack NicholsonJohn Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...
. - Helmsley was mentioned on KRS-OneKRS-OneLawrence Krisna Parker , better known by his stage names KRS-One , and Teacha, is an American rapper...
's EdutainmentEdutainmentEdutainment is a form of entertainment designed to educate as well as to amuse.-Overview:...
album on the track entitled Exhibit D. - There is a shout out to "Leona" on Immortal TechniqueImmortal TechniqueFelipe Andres Coronel , better known by the stage name Immortal Technique, is an American rapper of Afro-Peruvian descent as well as an urban activist. He was born in Lima, Peru and raised in Harlem, New York. Most of his lyrics focus on controversial issues in global politics...
's The MartyrThe MartyrThe Martyr is an Compilation album by Immortal Technique released on October 27, 2011 through free digital download on ViperRecords.com. It is a collection of previously unreleased and never before heard music from the artist. This album contains a never before heard song, called "Toast to the...
album at the beginning of the track entitled Rich Man's World (1%).
In film
The story of her adult life was dramatized in the 1990 TV movie Leona Helmsley: The Queen of Mean, which starred Suzanne PleshetteSuzanne Pleshette
Suzanne Pleshette was an American actress, on stage, screen and television.After beginning her career in theatre, she began appearing in films in the early 1960s, such as Rome Adventure and Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds...
as Leona and Lloyd Bridges
Lloyd Bridges
Lloyd Vernet Bridges, Jr. was an American actor who starred in a number of television series and appeared in more than 150 feature films. Bridges is best known for his role of Mike Nelson in Sea Hunt, the most-popular syndicated American TV series in 1958...
as Harry. Pleshette was nominated for an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
and a Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
for the portrayal.
Further reading
- Guilty of Being Rich – Victimization of Hotel Magnate Leona Helmsley by Paul Craig RobertsPaul Craig RobertsPaul Craig Roberts is an American economist and a columnist for Creators Syndicate. He served as an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan Administration earning fame as a co-founder of Reaganomics. He is a former editor and columnist for the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, and...
Author Steve Peacock was former Helmsley Palace house detective.