Who cut the dogs out?
Trustees for Leona Helmsley’s estate yesterday said they are giving $136 million of the Queen of Mean’s money to charity — with only $1 million going to the canine causes she so loved.
Helmsley, 87, who died in 2007, left barking orders in her will that funds from the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust would be used for “purposes related to the provision of care for dogs.”
That wording of the mission statement, filed in 2004, ignited a court battle over whether the money could be used to help beings with fewer than four legs.
Dog lovers were wagging their tails in delight until February when a judge ruled that the trustees had sole authority to decide which charities could benefit from her multibillion-dollar fortune.
The trustees — Helmsley’s brother, two grandchildren, a close friend and a lawyer — had been concerned the directive might keep their charitable giving on too tight a leash.
Helmsley’s estate announced its first round of charitable grants, including a $40 million gift to New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. The majority goes to New York City hospitals and other health-care systems across the country.
Animal-rights groups, meanwhile, got only a small bite of fortune — a kibble-sized $1 million, including $100,000 to the ASPCA.
Wayne Pacelle, chief executive of the Humane Society of the United States, said the amount of donations to animal charities — ranging from the animal-cruelty-prevention society to groups such as Canine Partners for Life — doesn’t reflect Helmsley’s wishes.
“Giving less than 1 percent of the allocation to dog-related organizations is a trifling amount and not consistent with Leona Helmsley’s expressed intention,” Pacelle said. “We’ve been in touch with interested parties and hope for a constructive resolution.”
Critics, the trustees said, are barking up the wrong tree.
“We are continuing the philanthropic legacy of Mr. and Mrs. Helmsley,” the trustees said in a statement.
“Throughout their lives, the Helmsleys were committed to helping others, through the innovations of medical research, responding to those in need during critical times, and in other areas. We now have the privilege of continuing their good works by providing support where it will make a difference.”
A spokeswoman for the trust did not return a call seeking comment as to why the animal-groups took such a big hit.
Helmsley’s fortune after her death had been estimated at $5 billion to $8 billion.
The luxury-hotel queen callously left $12 million in her will to her tiny Maltese, Trouble, while freezing out two of her grandchildren. She directed that when the dog died it would be buried next to her and her husband. State law bars animals from being buried in human cemeteries. With Post Wire Services