Leona Helmsley


"Queen of Mean" redirects here. For the British presenter and game show host, see Anne Robinson. For the American comedian, see Lisa Lampanelli.
Leona Helmsley

Born July 4, 1920(1920-07-04)
Marbletown, Ulster County, New York
Died 20 August 2007 (aged 87)
Greenwich, Connecticut
Occupation Hotel operator, real estate investor
Net worth ▲ US$ 5 Billion
Spouse(s) Leo Panzirer (m. 1938, div. 1952)
Joseph Lubin (Twice divorced)
Harry Helmsley (m. April 8, 1972 - d. 1997)

Leona Mindy Roberts Helmsley (July 4, 1920 – August 20, 2007) was a billionaire New York City hotel operator and real estate investor. She was a flamboyant personality and had a reputation for tyrannical behavior that earned her the nickname "Queen of Mean". That image of Helmsley was sealed when a former housekeeper testified 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. As a result she was investigated and later 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.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Leona Helmsley, daughter of a hatmaker, was born Lena Mindy Rosenthal in Marbletown, New York, 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 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.[1] She legally changed her surname to Roberts.[1] She was a chain smoker, using 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.

Hotel career

Leona was a condominium 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.

Leona and Harry B. Helmsley Medical Building, the main building of Greenwich Hospital in Greenwich, Connecticut

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.

Leona Helmsley was featured in an advertising campaign portraying her as a demanding "queen" who wanted nothing but the best for her guests. However, in real life she was known for being a tyrannical boss whose petulance seemed ill-suited to the hospitality industry. 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. Leona sued her son's estate for money and property that she claimed he had borrowed. Mimi, her son's widow who lived in a property Leona owned, received an eviction notice. Mimi later said the legal expenses wiped her out and "to this day I don't know why they did it."

Tax evasion conviction

Despite the Helmsleys' tremendous wealth (net worth considered 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, 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 f***ing partner you'll sign what I tell you to sign." *New York Times - 08 1989.

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. "Among the charges billed to the company were a million-dollar dance floor installed above a swimming pool; a forty-five thousand-dollar silver clock; and a two-hundred-and-ten-thousand-dollar mahogany card table."[2] 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.[1]

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.[1]

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."[3] ”

—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."[4] Most legal observers felt that Mrs. Helmsley's hostile personality, arrogance, and "naked greed" alienated the jurors.[5]

On August 30, Helmsley was convicted and sentenced of one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States,[6] three counts of tax evasion,[7] three counts of filing false personal tax returns,[8] sixteen counts of assisting in the filing of false corporate and partnership tax returns,[8] and ten counts of mail fraud.[9] (See United States v. Helmsley, 941 F.2d 71, 91-2 U.S. Tax Cas. (CCH) paragr. 50,455 (2d Cir. 1991), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 1091 (1992).)

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.[1] 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, though she had been convicted the previous August.

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 Building), estimated to be worth well in excess of $5 billion.

She had almost no friends but Dr. Patrick Ward, and Kathy and Rick Hilton.[10] 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.[11] 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.[12]

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, Helmsley became generous in her charitable contributions after her prison term. After September 11, 2001, she donated $5 million to help families of New York firefighters. Among other contributions, she also gave $25 million to New York's Presbyterian Hospital for medical research.

Death

Leona Helmsley died from congestive heart failure at the age of 87, on August 20, 2007, at Dunnellen Hall, her summer home in Greenwich, Connecticut.[13][14] Cardiovascular disease ran in her family, claiming the lives of her father, son and a sister.[15][16][17] 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[18] 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.

The mausoleum of Harry Helmsley in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery

Helmsley left the bulk of her estate — estimated at more than $4 billion — to the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust.[19] She also left her Maltese, Trouble, a $12 million trust fund.[20] This sum was subsequently reduced to $2 million less than a year later by a judge. She left $15 million for her brother Alvin Rosenthal. Helmsley had four grandchildren. Two of them each will receive $5 million in trust and $5 million outright, under the condition that they visit their father's grave site once each calendar year. Her other two grandchildren, Craig and Meegan Panzirer, received nothing.

It has been alleged that they were omitted from the will because they failed to name any of their children after her late husband. Her choice to leave $12m to her white Maltese, Trouble, was branded 3rd in Fortune's "101 Dumbest Moments in Business" of 2007.[21] In an April 30, 2008 court ruling Manhattan Surrogate Judge Renee Roth reduced the trust fund for Trouble from $12 million to $2 million with the $10 million going to Helmsley's charitable foundation.[22] Helmsley also left $100,000 to her chauffeur, Nicholas Celea.[23][24]

However, in the April 30 judgment (published only on June 16, 2008), Manhattan Surrogate Court Judge Reena Roth further ruled Helmsley was mentally unfit when she executed her will. Hence, the Court, amid settlement, awarded $4 million to the charity, and $6 million to Craig and Meegan Panzirer, who were 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. Nine-year-old Trouble lives in Florida with Carl Lekic, the general manager of the Helmsley Sandcastle Hotel, with several death threats having been received.[25][26] 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."[27]

In addition to $12 million Leona Helmsley left to her pet, she left instructions that her trust, now valued at $5 to $8 billion, be used to benefit dogs.[28] The trust is not legally bound to these wishes, however.[29]

On April 21, 2009, Helmsley's Estate decided to give only $1 million to her dog/dog charities. [30]

Popular culture

  • Helmsley was lampooned by Nora Dunn on several episodes of Saturday Night Live in the late 1980s.[31]
  • Helmsley was a recurring character in the comic strip Zippy the Pinhead.[32]
  • Her 'dog' appeared in a 2007 series of Mother Goose and Grimm comics.
  • The nickname of "Queen Of Mean" has since been adopted by insult comic Lisa Lampanelli.
  • Two Far Side comics featured her as the subject.
  • In the late eighties, Howard Stern Show cast member and voice actor Billy West had a recurring role on the show impersonating Helmsley, painting her as a racist and a homophobe.
  • In The Paper Grail, a book by James P. Blaylock, a character named Heloise Lamey is inspired by and loosely based upon Helmsley, and the character's name is a near-anagram for Leona Helmsley.

Queen of Mean

  • "Lawyer Alan Dershowitz 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 saucer. 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."[2]

In film

The story of her adult life was dramatized in the 1990 TV movie Leona Helmsley: The Queen of Mean, which starred Suzanne Pleshette as Leona and Lloyd Bridges as Harry. Pleshette was nominated for an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award for the portrayal.[33] She also is a character in the movie Loaded Weapon.

In Television

On the television show 30 Rock, the CEO of GE played by Rip Torn told Tina Fey's character Liz Lemon that she has "got the charm and spark of a young Leona Helmsley."

Further reading

References

  1. ^ a b c d The Queen of Mean from Court TV's Crime Library
  2. ^ Toobin, Jeffrey (2008-09-29). "Rich Bitch". The New Yorker. http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-36029445_ITM. Retrieved on 2009-04-18. 
  3. ^ "Maid Testifies Helmsley Denied Paying Taxes: Says She Told Her 'Only the Little People Pay,'" Associated Press (AP), carried in New York Times, July 12, 1989, pg. B2. See also "Number 27743," The Columbia World of Quotations (Columbia University Press, 1996).
  4. ^ Leona Helmsley, Hotelier and Real Estate Icon, Dies Bloomberg News (August 20, 2007)
  5. ^ "U.S. v. Helmsley: 1989 - "We Don't Pay Taxes. Only The Little People Pay Taxes."". http://law.jrank.org/pages/3446/U-S-v-Helmsley-1989--We-Don-t-Pay-Taxes-Only-Little-People-Pay-Taxes.html. Retrieved on 2007-05-15. 
  6. ^ 18 U.S.C. § 371.
  7. ^ 26 U.S.C. § 7201.
  8. ^ a b 26 U.S.C. § 7206.
  9. ^ 18 U.S.C. § 1341.
  10. ^ "Guilty of being rich—victimization of hotel magnate Leona Helmsley," Paul Craig Roberts, Ph.D., National Review, November 15, 1993.
  11. ^ "Empty riches of the 'queen of mean'"
  12. ^ "Metro Briefing". New York Times. March 5, 2003. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B00EEDE153FF936A35750C0A9659C8B63&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fH%2fHelmsley%2c%20Leona. Retrieved on 2007-05-15. 
  13. ^ "Leona Helmsley, Hotel Queen, Dies at 87". New York Times. August 21, 2007. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/20/nyregion/20cnd-helmsley.html?ex=1203220800&pagewanted=all. Retrieved on 2009-01-19. "Leona Helmsley, the self-styled hotel queen, whose prison term for income tax evasion and fraud was greeted with uncommon approval by a public who had grown to regard her as a 1980s symbol of arrogance and greed, died today at her summer home in Greenwich, Conn, She was 87. The cause of death was heart failure, her longtime spokesman, Howard J. Rubenstein, said." 
  14. ^ http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070820/ap_on_re_us/obit_helmsley
  15. ^ USNews update, August 16, 2004.
  16. ^ Leona Helmsley Dies, Obituary from WCBS Newsradio 880 (WCBS-AM New York).
  17. ^ Hotelier Leona Helmsley dies at 87, AP, 8/20/2007
  18. ^ (Reuters) "New York's Helmsley to rest in $1.4 mln mausoleum" 21 August, 2007
  19. ^ Leona Helmsleys Unusual Last Will - City Room - Metro - New York Times Blog
  20. ^ James Clench Rich bitch leaves £6m to dog The Sun - August 30, 2007
  21. ^ CNN Money (December 19, 2007). "101 Dumbest Moments in Business". http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/fortune/0712/gallery.101_dumbest.fortune/3.html. 
  22. ^ Helmsley's dog loses $10 million - Animal weirdness - MSNBC.com
  23. ^ Helmsley's Dog Gets $12 Million in Will - washingtonpost.com
  24. ^ Joanna Grossman (September 18, 2007). "Last Words from the "Queen of Mean": Leona Helmsley's Will, The Challenges That Are Likely to Be Posed to It, and the Likely Fate of the World's Second Richest Dog". http://writ.news.findlaw.com/grossman/20070918.html. 
  25. ^ afp.google.com, Judge takes a bite out of millionaire pooch's fortune
  26. ^ nytimes.com, Leona Helmsley’s Dog Loses All but $2 Million
  27. ^ uk.reuters.com, NY judge trims dog's $12 million inheritance
  28. ^ Leona Helmsley’s Fortune May Go to Benefit Dogs - NYTimes.com
  29. ^ nytimes.com, Not All of Helmsley’s Trust Has to Go to Dogs
  30. ^ http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090421/ap_en_ot/us_helmsley_dogs
  31. ^ Saturday Night Live Archives
  32. ^ Zippy the Pinhead.
  33. ^ Leona Helmsley: The Queen of Mean at the Internet Movie Database

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