Queen of Mean

Today in History 08/30 (Leona Helmsley)

Leona Helmsley leaves the New York Federal courthouse in 1989 (© Ron Galella, Ltd./WireImage/Getty Images)(1989) The ‘Queen of Mean’ is convicted on tax evasion charges
New York hotel magnate Leona Helmsley, is said to have once proclaimed, “We don’t pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes.” This likely didn’t help her case, and neither did testimony regarding her fiery temper, overinflated ego, and dodgy financial dealings, and she’s found guilty of tax evasion.
Leona Mindy Roberts Helmsley was an American businesswoman, known for her flamboyant personality and her reputation for tyrannical behavior, earning her the sobriquet Queen of Mean.
Lived: Jul 04, 1920 – Aug 20, 2007 (age 87)
Nationality: American
Spouse: Harry Helmsley (m. 1972 – 1997)
Children: Jay Panzirer (Son)
Siblings: Sylvia Roman (Sister) · Alvin Rosenthal (Brother)
Parents: Morris Rosenthal (Father) · Ida Rosenthal (Mother)
Highlights
  • 1968: In 1968, while Roberts was working as a condominium broker, she met and began her involvement with the then-married real estate entrepreneur Harry Helmsley.

  • 1972: Leona Helmsley married Harry Helmsley on April 08, 1972; their marriage lasted 25 years till 1997.

  • 1982: On March 31, 1982, Helmsley’s only child, Jay Panzirer, died of a heart attack resulting from arrhythmia.

  • 1989: In 1989, an unauthorized biography titled The Queen of Mean: The Unauthorized Biography of Leona Helmsley was published by Bantam Books (ISBN 978-0553285581).

  • 1989: After allegations of non-payment were made by contractors hired to improve Helmsley’s Connecticut home, she was investigated and convicted of federal income tax evasion and other crimes in 1989.

  • 2007: Leona Helmsley died of congestive heart failure at the age of 87, on August 20, 2007, at Dunnellen Hall, her summer home in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Mug shot of Leona Helmsley
wiki/Leona_Helmsley
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(1989) The ‘Queen of Mean’ is convicted on tax evasion charges.
Also on this day,

1797 | The creator of a monster, Mary Shelley, is created
Marry Wollstonecraft Shelley (nee Godwin) is born in northwest London. She’ll go on to write biographies, travel books, and novels, most notably ‘Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus’ at age 20.
1967 | Justice Marshall, a slave’s grandson makes history at US Supreme Court
Thirteen years after he successfully argued in front of the US Supreme Court against racial segregation in the landmark case ‘Brown v. Board of Education,’ Thurgood Marshall is confirmed by the Senate to become the first African American justice on that very same court.
1970 | Isle of Wight fest tops Woodstock as more than half a million rock
Some 600,000 people crowd an English island as a five-day rock music concert comes to a close. Europe’s answer to 1969’s epoch-making Woodstock gathering, the Isle of Wight festival features headliner Jimi Hendrix in one of his last performances before his death less than a month later.

Today in History 08/30/17

Justice Thurgood Marshall stands outside the Supreme Court building in Washington DC, after being sworn in as the first African American justice to serve on the high court (© AP)(1967) A slave's grandson makes history at US Supreme Court
Thirteen years after he successfully argued in front of the US Supreme Court against racial segregation in the landmark case 'Brown v. Board of Education,' Thurgood Marshall is confirmed by the Senate to become the first African American justice on that very same court.
Thurgood Marshall was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, serving from October 1967 until October 1991. Marshall was the Court's 96th justice and its first African-American justice.
Lived: Jul 02, 1908 - Jan 24, 1993 (age 84)
Spouse: Cecilia Suyat (m. 1955 - 1993) · Vivian Burey (m. 1929 - 1955)
Education: Howard University School of Law · Lincoln University · Howard University · Frederick Douglass High School
Children: Thurgood Marshall, Jr. (Son)
Founded: NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
Parents: Norma Africa Marshall (Mother) · William Marshall (Father)
Highlights
  • 1934: He began his 25-year affiliation with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1934 by representing the organization in the law school discrimination suit Murray v. Pearson.

  • 1936: In 1936, Marshall became part of the national staff of the NAACP.

  • 1955: After her death in February 1955, Marshall married Cecilia Suyat in December of that year.

  • 1955: Thurgood Marshall married Cecilia Suyat on December 01, 1955.

  • 1965: Marshall remained on that court until 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed him to be the United States Solicitor General, the first African American to hold the office.

  • 1993: Marshall died of heart failure at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, at 2:58 pm on January 24, 1993, at the age of 84.

wiki/Thurgood_Marshall
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