1. Leona Helmsley was born Lena Mindy Rosenthal in Marbletown, New York, to Polish-Jewish immigrants, Ida Popkin, a homemaker, and Morris Rosenthal, a hatmaker.
24 Facts About Leona Helmsley
1. 2.
Leona Helmsley's family moved to Brooklyn while she was still a girl, and moved six more times before settling in Manhattan.
3.
Leona Helmsley was twice married to and divorced from her second husband, garment industry executive Joseph Lubin.
4.
Leona Helmsley later concentrated on the hotel industry, building the Helmsley Palace Hotel on Madison Avenue.
5.
Leona Helmsley was featured in an advertising campaign portraying her as a demanding "queen" who wanted nothing but the best for her guests.
6.
The slightest mistake was usually grounds for firing, and Leona Helmsley was known to shout insults and obscenities at targeted employees just before they were fired.
7.
Leona Helmsley successfully sued her son's estate for money and property that she claimed he had borrowed, and she was ultimately awarded $146,092.
8.
Leona Helmsley had begun to appear feeble shortly after the beginning of his relationship with Leona years before and had recently suffered a stroke on top of a pre-existing heart condition.
9.
Ruffino, originally employed to assist Harry through the Hospitality Management Services arm, said that Leona Helmsley fired him on several occasions for refusing to sign the bills, only for Harry to usually tell him to ignore her and come back to work.
10.
Leona Helmsley was instead originally sentenced to four years in prison, which was eventually reduced to 18 months after resentencing.
11.
Nonetheless, when it was clear that she was going to prison, Leona Helmsley collapsed outside the courthouse.
12.
Leona Helmsley was later diagnosed with a heart irregularity and hypertension.
13.
Leona Helmsley was released from custody on January 26,1994, after serving twenty-one months.
14.
Leona Helmsley was forced to give up control of her hotel empire, since most of her hotels had bars, and New York does not allow convicted felons to hold alcohol licenses.
15.
Leona Helmsley spent her final years at her penthouse atop the Park Lane Hotel.
16.
In 2002, Leona Helmsley was sued by Charles Bell, a former employee who alleged that he was discharged solely for being gay.
17.
Leona Helmsley died of congestive heart failure at the age of 87, on August 20,2007, at Dunnellen Hall.
18.
Leona Helmsley was known for not liking dirt, and left $3 million for the 1,300-square-foot family mausoleum to be "washed or steam-cleaned at least once a year".
19.
Leona Helmsley's choice was branded 3rd in Fortune magazine's "101 Dumbest Moments in Business" of 2007.
20.
Leona Helmsley acquired the moniker "Queen of Mean", reportedly inspired after an advertising campaign promoting her as the "Queen of the Palace" of the Leona Helmsley Palace Hotel.
21.
Leona Helmsley became known by this nickname in the mainstream press.
22.
Alan Dershowitz, while having breakfast with her at one of the Leona Helmsley hotels, received a cup of tea with a tiny bit of water spilled on the saucer.
23.
Leona Helmsley grabbed the cup from the waiter and smashed it on the floor, then told him to beg for his job.
24.
In 1989, a biography entitled The Queen of Mean: The Unauthorized Biography of Leona Helmsley was published by Bantam Books.