NEW YORK — Real estate baroness Leona Helmsley’s estate gave away $136 million Tuesday to hospitals, foundations and the homeless and $1 million to animal charities.
Animal-welfare groups rejoiced last year amid reports that Helmsley — who died in 2007 at age 87 — specified in her will that her multibillion-dollar hotel and real estate empire should go entirely to dog-related charities. The will had named her dog, Trouble, as a beneficiary.
But a surrogate court judge ruled in February that trustees for the Helmsley Charitable Trust had sole authority to decide which charities benefit from her estate.
Wayne Pacelle, chief executive of the Humane Society of the United States, said Tuesday that the amount of donations doesn’t reflect Helmsley’s wishes. “We’ve been in touch with interested parties and hope for a constructive resolution,” he said. The Associated Press
