No Shortage of Hospital Beds For The Very Rich

Heiress Huguette Clark dies at 104

NEW YORK, May 25 — Huguette Clark, heiress to a mining and railroad fortune, has died at the New York hospital where she lived the last 20 years of her life. She was 104.

The Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday Clark, who preferred to be called Madame Clark, died Tuesday at Beth Israel Hospital, where she lived despite owning luxurious homes in New York, New Canaan, Conn., and Santa Barbara, Calif.

Clark’s estate is valued at an estimated $500 million.

Prosecutors in New York have been looking into whether her New York attorney, Wallace Bock — one of a few people known to have been in regular contact with her in recent years — may have exploited the reclusive heiress, the newspaper said. Investigators were also looking into her dealings with accountant Irving H. Kamsler, the report said.

“Madame Clark’s passing is a sad event for everyone who loved and respected her over the years,” a spokesman for Bock said in a prepared statement. “She died as she wanted, with dignity and privacy. We intend to continue to respect her wishes for privacy.”

Huguette Marcelle Clark was born in Paris June 9, 1906, the daughter of William Andrews Clark — whose mining and railroad fortune was said to rival that of oilman John D. Rockefeller — the Times said. William Clark later served as a U.S. senator from Montana and is credited with establishing Las Vegas in what subsequently became Clark County.

Huguette Clark’s 1928 marriage to William MacDonald Gower ended in divorce in 1930. She had no surviving immediate relatives.

Huguette Clark’s penchant for privacy generally held until she made headlines at 103, when MSNBC.com reported family members had told a New York judge her advisers were wielding “improper influence” over her affairs.

www.gamutnews.com