And that’s the way it is, Joanna.
While former opera singer Joanna Simon was Walter Cronkite’s constant companion in the last four years of his life, summering in Martha’s Vineyard and yachting off the East Coast with the legendary TV anchor, he didn’t leave her a cent when he died last month.
The most trusted man in America divvied up his estate among his three children and aides at CBS, leaving Simon out, his will shows. Cronkite also bequeathed mementos from his storied journalism career to his alma mater, the University of Texas.
The will was written in August 2005, before he and Simon started dating. It was filed in Manhattan Surrogate’s Court last week, a month after the legendary CBS newsman died at 92.
Simon and Cronkite grew close while each was mourning the loss of a spouse in 2005 — both had apartments in the United Nations Plaza building.
After Cronkite’s death, Simon told The Post, “He was the most remarkable man who ever lived and the love of my life.” She also spoke glowingly of their sailing trips to Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket and Newport, RI.
Cronkite’s daughter Nancy said her father was “very generous” to Simon while alive, but never intended to put her in his will.
“It was about my mother [Betsy],” Nancy Cronkite said. “Dad said to us, ‘I don’t want to marry Joanna out of respect for your mother, and I don’t want to share my estate with her.’ ”
Nancy added that he was devastated by her mom’s death in 2005.
“I don’t think Dad ever really recovered. His health was certainly exacerbated by this terrible, terrible blow,” she said.
Nancy, along with Cronkite’s other children, Chip and Kathy, will inherit the lion’s share of his fortune, likely millions. His closest aides, including Marlene Adler, who was his chief of staff at CBS, will wind up with tens of thousands of dollars.
In the will, Cronkite stated that he wanted the estate to sell his property, including a harborside home on Martha’s Vineyard and his 32-foot-long power boat, with the proceeds divided among his children.
Adler will receive between $50,000 and $100,000, and Cronkite’s executive assistant, Julie Sukmann, will get between $12,500 and $50,000. The exact amounts they receive will depend on the estate’s value — they’ll get the maximum sum if it’s worth $4 million or more.
“We were both surprised and not so surprised, and delighted, of course,” Adler said. “He was a generous, thoughtful man.”
jfanelli@nypost.com