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Heiress Huguette Clark Leaves $34 Million To Nurse, None To Family
By
Jamie Feldmar
Published Jun 23, 2011
Modified Jun 23, 2011
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By
Jamie Feldmar
Published Jun 23, 2011
Modified Jun 23, 2011
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Recently departed heiress/recluse/doll collector Huguette Clark left $34 million to her nurse, $14 million to her goddaughter, $500,000 each to her lawyer and accountant, and absolutely $0 to anyone in her family, it was reported yesterday.
The nurse, Hadassah Peri, was randomly assigned by a nursing agency to care for Clark, who spent most of the past twenty years in a private room in Beth Israel, in 1991, and became "a friend and loyal companion," according to Clark's will. Peri will also receive Clark's collection of dolls and dollhouses (shudder). Clark left $500,000 apiece to her lawyer, Wallace Bock and her accountant, Irving Kamsler, a convicted sex offender. Both men remain the subject of a pending criminal inquiry by the Manhattan District Attorney' office after Clark's family raised questions about how they were handling her assets. Clark, who had no children, specifically excluded blood relatives, writing that she'd "had minimal contact with them over the years."
Clark also donated a Monet "Water Lillies" painting to the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. It has not been seen in public since 1925 and is valued around $25 million. Another $275 million of Clark's fortune was left to establish an arts foundation at her Santa Barbara estate, which she hadn't visited in 50 years.
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