Metro

Benevolent ‘Sopranos’ star James Gandolfini left $50G in his will to pal with autistic son

JAMES GANDOLFINI
A generous friend.

JAMES GANDOLFINI
A generous friend.

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Family man James Gandolfini took care of his friends’ kids as well as his own.

The benevolent “Sopranos” star left $50,000 in his will to college pal Doug Katz, who has a 12-year-old autistic son.

“I was shocked,” Katz told The Post yesterday of the gift, of which he learned of in a phone call from Gandolfini’s widow, Deborah Lin. “He’s my son’s guardian angel.”

Katz said Gandolfini, with whom he once roomed, has always been generous with Katz’s son, Andrew.

“He got him nutritional supplements, anything Andrew needed to help him lead a better life. Jim sponsored gymnastics for my son,” the grateful dad said.

“He always said, ‘How can we help? How can we make it better?’ And none of it was lip service.

“I’d rather have Jim alive than his money,” said Katz. “You could never meet a nicer guy in the world. He was the glue that kept us together.”

Gandolfini, who died of a heart attack on June 19 on vacation in Rome, also left $100,000 to young godson Robert Parish, whose mom, Brittany, is a longtime friend.

As The Post first reported yesterday, Gandolfini — estimated to be worth as much as $70 million — left his own 13-year-old son, Michael, a trust fund, $200,000 in clothing and jewelry, and the purchasing rights to a West Village apartment. He bequeathed Michael and the boy’s 8-month old half-sister, Liliana, a house in Italy.

Gandolfini also left Michael a $7 million life-insurance trust, according to papers filed Tuesday.

The actor set up Michael’s trust in 2002, as part of his divorce settlement with first wife Marcella Wudarski, according to his longtime business manager, Valerie Baugh.

Katz said he will put the money Gandolfini left him in a trust for Andrew.

“Every summer, we’d go down to his [Jersey Shore] beach house,” Katz recalled. “Jim would always take Andrew to do something. I never had to worry because the beach was a safe house.

“We’d go down and just have a good time.”