Ray Charles’s Children Fight Effort to Revoke Gift

Challenging a Los Angeles lawyer who is representing the estate of Ray Charles, the children of the late singer say that their father would not want to take back money he donated to a university through his foundation, as the lawyer of his estate has claimed, reports the Associated Press.

At question is the legal standing of Ivan Hoffman as a representative of Mr. Charles’s estate. Mr. Hoffman has threatened to take back $3-million from Albany State University, in Georgia — money that he says was not used for its intended purpose, the wire service reports.

But Mr. Charles’s children oppose that move. “Ray Charles would be outraged by your threats to rescind the gifts he made, through his foundation, to Albany State U.,” reads a letter sent by a lawyer for the Charles children.

Mr. Hoffman and Mr. Charles’s former manager have been considering legal action because the university has not yet built a performing-arts center, six years after the singer donated the money, according to the news service. The university says that the gift was given without restrictions. Mr. Charles died in 2004.

“The Ray Charles Fine Arts Building has always been, and remains a priority for Albany State University,” the university’s president said in a statement. “However, as much as we want to make this a reality, we cannot move forward without the approval of the [Board of Regents], state funding, and community support.”