Hotelier Leona Helmsley Dies at 87

abcnews.com ^ | 08/20/2007 | AP

[Sleeping Freeper]

Leona Helmsley, the hotelier who went to prison as a tax cheat and was reviled as the "queen of mean," died Monday at age 87.

Helmsley died of heart failure at her summer home in Greenwich, Conn., said her publicist, Howard Rubenstein.

Helmsley and her husband, Harry, ran a $5 billion real estate empire that included managing the Empire State Building. She was tried in 1989 on tax evasion charges in a sensational trial that included testimony from disgruntled employees who said she terrorized both menial and executive help at her homes and hotels.

Her image was sealed when a former housekeeper testified that she heard Helmsley say: "We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes."

She denied having said it, but the words followed her the rest of her life.

[Artemis Webb]

"Michael Milliken got the same."

Michael Milken did indeed get the same treatment, though he was not the household word that Leona Helmsley was. Milken though has distinguished himself with extensive charitable work since he was falsely prosecuted by an overzealous prosecutor named Rudy Guiliani.

Helmsley was the same "tough bitch" (her own defense attorneys description of her) after her trial as she was before.

In keeping with FreeRepublics high standards at "celebrity" deaths I'm not going to spew hatred at her. I will say though that a bag of rotten garbage that has money in it is still a bag of rotten garbage.

[kbennkc]

However mean and nasty the hired help says she was , she was nonetheless a victim of a political prosecution very like some of our heroes. She was accused of evading something like $10,000.00 of about a $1,000,000.00 paid . No intent was shown. An injustice to one is an injustice to us all.

[Future Snake Eater]

Last known picture.

/mst3k

[fella]

With all the comparisons between Hitlery and Leona lately this could be an Arkanside.

[Joan Kerrey]

died Monday at age 87.

---

She lived much too long as far as I’m concerned.

[peggybac]

I wonder who she willed all her shoes to.

[Joan Kerrey]

Just because the media says she was bad doesn’t tell me anything.

---

In her case the media was dead right. She was a bitch and a witch and enjoyed brutalizing her help. I knew a number of people who worked for her and none of them survived more than a year in management positions. She picked on managers more because it was too expensive to fight union bosses’ protection of the line staff but it didn’t stop her from being a tyrant to all. I was in the hotel business for 40 years (retired) and served her myself in another luxury hotel where she and Harry visited. She was rude and sadistic in her approach to service managers and line staff and was determined to find fault at all cost.

[M Kehoe]

Thank you. Michael Deaver, Ronaldus Magnus' deputy chief of staff.

Now we've got to watch for another three, probably starting with Lindsey Lohan or Brittany Spears. Sad.

5.56mm

[TNCMAXQ]

I didn’t think she was that old. Sounds like she was truly a mean person and working for her was difficult or impossible. However, I wonder if some of the negative coverage was influenced by the fact that she was a Republican.

[ClearCase_guy]

Some people are like that. I'll make no attempt to defend her.

I will say, however, that I have become one of those people who, if the newspapers tell me that the sun rises in the east, I give no credence to it, and just want to go find out for myself. Thanks for helping me learn more.

[bray]

Another victim of PravdABDNC has her life smeared. Many said just the opposite of her but they weren’t reported. Prayers for her family and friends.

Pray for W and Our Troops

[US_MilitaryRules]

You say this in your post and then I read your tag line! OK.

[Jaded]

And... it’s hell to be poor! (They are the only ones that die and pay taxes.)- M. Zindler

[freekitty]

If you have ever suffered at the hands of a nasty and sadistic boss; you never forget. The sickness these people possess is unbelievable.

[OESY]

I have two friends who worked for her and who would confirm all your observations. The world is rendered less mean by her passing.

.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

Was she still doing laps in her pool and have maids throw iced shrimp in her mouth up until the end?

[gracesdad]

Here’s a nice example from the ABC story. This from a woman who was worth billions:

“After her son died, she sued the estate for money and property she said her son had borrowed, and an eviction notice was served on her son’s widow, Mimi.

Mimi Panzirer said afterward that the legal costs wiped her out and “to this day I don’t know why they did it.”

[NYCynic]

The media is so deeply involved in class warfare that it’s impossible to get the truth in matters like this. She could very well have been a jerk but the media has raised our doubts so often we don’t know what to believe anymore.

[gracesdad]

According to the story, the Helmsleys did contribute quite a bit to charities, but she still brutalized and tried to cheat people. In one case she tried welsh on an $88,000 painting bill on her house claiming it was a finder’s fee owed her because the same painter had gotten commercial business from her.

[SkyPilot]