Leona Helmsley - Sleepy Hollow, NY - Grave of a Famous Person on Waymarking.com

Harry and Leona Helmsley were two of America’s largest and wealthiest property owner. They made billions in real estate, owning many of the country’s most prestigious properties including the Empire State Building. Their lavish lifestyle and questionable business practices drew the attention of federal investigators which lead to charges of tax evasion. Harry who was in poor health was too frail to plead and died in 1997. However, Leona who had reportedly utter the now famous words, “Only little people pay taxes,” was fined and sentenced to 16-years in prison but served only 19-months. Harry died in 1997 and was originally entombed at Woodlawn Cemetery in New York City. Leona disliked the setting so much that she built the mausoleum her and had Harry re-interred her in 2004. Leona died in 2007 and is entombed beside Harry.
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Description: Harry Helmsley divorced his first wife in 1971 and married Leona Roberts in 1972. At the time of their marriage Leona was vice-president of one of his many companies. She was a high-profile manager, dynamic and extremely abrasive. If fact she was so abrasive she was dubbed “The Queen of Mean”). She demanded a luxury lifestyle, which was quite different from the modest private life Harry had been living up till then. In 1980, Harry received The Hundred Year Association of New York's Gold Medal Award "in recognition of outstanding contributions to the City of New York." Their crown jewel was New York's 50-storey Helmsley Palace Hotel on Madison Avenue at Fiftieth Street. Opening in 1980 to great fanfare, it soon became known as the city's most elegant venue. However, it marked the beginning of financial and legal troubles that would dog the marriage until Harry’s death. Partly due to Leona’s extravagant plans and frequent demands for changes, the cost of the building rocketed, and it was proved that they had contracted some work out to their own subsidiaries at inflated prices. In 1988, they were also charged with major tax evasion based on false accounting. By this time, Harry was judged too frail to plead but Leona served 18 months in prison, in addition to being heavily fined. Harry died on January 4, 1997 and was originally entombed at the Woodlawn Cemetery in New York City. However, Leona totally disliked mausoleum claiming it was too plain and constructed a lavish 1.4 million dollar mausoleum at the Sleep Hollow Cemetery. Harry's remains were re-entombed here in 2004. Leona died on August 20, 2007 and is entombed beside of Harry Date of birth: 07/04/1920 Date of death: 08/20/2007 Area of notoriety: Other Marker Type: Tomb (above ground) Setting: Outdoor Visiting Hours/Restrictions: Daily: 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Fee required?: No Web site: [Web Link]

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Date Logged Log   02/11/2022 chrissyml visited it