Recently Dead

New York City real-estate “queen” Leona Helmsley died today of heart failure at her summer home in Greenwich, Connecticut. She was 87. Helmsley came into the public’s consciousness in 1972 when she married Harry B Helmsley, New York’s pre-eminent real estate investor and broker who had amassed $5 billion-worth of real estate, including the Empire State Building, the Park Avenue Helmsley Building, and the Flatiron Building. In 1980, Mrs Helmsley was appointed president of Helmsley Hotels, a chain that operated 30 hotels, including The Park Lane, the St Moritz, the Harley, and the flagship Helmsley Palace. Ads for the hotels included her picture and touted her as the queen of the empire and a stickler for detail, a bit of truth in advertising that earned her the moniker “the Queen of Mean.” During her circus of a trial in 1989 for tax evasion (her husband was spared from charges due to poor health), disgruntled employees testified that she terrorized the help at her homes and hotels. A former housekeeper testified that she heard Helmsley say: “We don’t pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes.” (CNN)