Picower Willed Hundreds of Millions to New Foundation
November 10, 2009 | Read Time: 1 minute
The billionaire financier and philanthropist Jeffry M. Picower’s will instructs that the bulk of his estate be used to establish a new charitable foundation to replace the one he and his wife shut down last year due to losses in the Bernard L. Madoff investment fraud, The New York Times reports.
Mr. Picower, who drowned in the pool at his Florida mansion after suffering a heart attack October 25, directed that the new foundation primarily benefit medical research. He also left $1-million each to the New York Public Library, the Harlem Children’s Zone, and the Nurse-Family Partnership.
Irving Picard, trustee for Mr. Madoff’s bankruptcy proceedings, is seeking the return of up to $7-billion he says the Picowers withdrew from their Madoff accounts over several decades; lawyers for the family contend its liability is limited to $2.4-billion. William D. Zabel, a lawyer for Mr. Picower, said that “a fair and generous settlement” with Mr. Picard should still leave “hundreds of millions of dollars” to start the new foundation.
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