Leona Helmsley's $12 Million Bequest to Her Dog

by Courtney Mroch | More from this Blogger

30 Aug 2007 12:22 PM

As I often do when I eat breakfast, I watched the Today Show this morning. I tuned in right as Ann Curry interviewed a lady from Court TV about the late Leona Helmsley bequeathing $12 million to her Maltese, Trouble.

I guess the big hoopla has to do with the fact that not only did she specifically not leave anything to two of her four grandchildren, but she either didn't leave a dime to her 12 great-grandchildren or what she did leave was ridiculously small compared to the largest bequest she made -the $12 million to Trouble, who at eight-years-old is getting up there in years. (Or that's how the media tried to slant it. If she was a bigger dog, eight might seem elderly, but she's just a little thing. If she's in good health she could easily live another eight --or more-- years.)

Anyway, during the interview the Court TV lady (I didn't think to note her name) did point out that Leona Helmsley, despite her reputation as the "Queen of Mean" for stiffing people she owed money to and treating employees badly, was quite the philanthropist. (Apparently her will was set up in such a way that most of her fortune will survive her via the Leona Helmsley Charitable Trust, and some of that will see its way to animal causes.)

New York Times reporter Sewell Chan noted that Helmsley had donated roughly $35 million to charities in the not-so-distant past, but that would be nothing compared to what her will would shell out.

In his article on MSNBC's website, "Countdown" anchor Keith Olbermann told of Trouble's fate when her time to cross the Rainbow Bridge comes: She will be reunited with her owner by way of the mausoleum Helmsley was laid to rest in. (Apparently Helmsley reserved the space right beside her for Trouble.)

Okay, so everyone's had their fun at Helmsley's expense, it's a shame she wasn't more generous with her grandkids and great-grandkids, yadda, yadda, yadda. But I hadn't heard anyone answer the questions on my mind:

(a) Who's going to take care of Trouble now?

(b) How is she holding up?

Well, Sewell Chan's article had a link to Helmsley's will (which was kind of creepy and felt extremely voyeuristic to feast my own eyes on) that answered one of my questions: Helmsley left Trouble to her brother, Alvin Rosenthal.

But so far I still haven't heard anything about Trouble's state of mind since her owner's passing. No matter how any of us might have perceived Helmsley, to that little dog she was "Mom" and I'm sure she loved her unconditionally, forgave any of her trespasses, and misses her dearly.

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Courtney Mroch is a wife, a proud pet parent, and a writer. She's been with her husband, high school sweetheart Wayne Pryor, over 20 years, married 11 of those. She's "mom" to Mr. Meow, a.k.

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Michele Cheplic (37429) 30 Aug 2007 01:05 PM

I wondered what devoted dog owners would think about this. I heard that the money is supposed to go to pay for at least eight sets of dog walkers (sets?). But, yes I wondered about Trouble given the report I saw said the pooch was the center of Helmsley's life--and their deep love for each other was mutual. I hope her brother likes dogs.

mcmama (51978) 30 Aug 2007 01:27 PM

I think this is wonderful.

A large trust fund for the dog makes certain that whoever takes care of her will do it well, and always have the interest of keeping the dog healthy at heart. And I do not fault her for smaller bequests to her grandchildren, including the ones who received nothing. The grandchildren now have a wonderful bequest, with which they can invest and make their own fortunes - and the ones who don't get anything are just out of luck, but if their grandma was not close to them in life, why give them anything?

Her charitable bequests will likely do the world a world of good.

Courtney Mroch (9169) 31 Aug 2007 03:58 PM

Thanks for your comments, ladies! I agree wholeheartedly with Janet, and I'm with you, Michelle --I certainly hope her brother does like dogs. If he doesn't, she certainly saw to it he can pay to hire a pet lover (or 2...or 8) to tend to Trouble. ;-)

Michele Cheplic (37429) 05 Sep 2007 05:16 AM

I heard yesterday that her brother doesn't like the dog. In fact, he reportedly can't stand "Trouble" and Leona's housekeeper has been carng for the dog since she passed. The dog is probably worth more than the housekeeper and the brother doesn't want anything to do with it... now that's planning.

Courtney Mroch (9169) 05 Sep 2007 03:12 PM

What a bummer to hear. Hopefully the housekeeper likes Trouble. Or hopefully they'll hurry up and find some pet nannies who will!