The Phantom of Fifth Avenue: The Mysterious Life and Scandalous Death of Heiress Huguette Clark Read Online Free PDF

Greenhalgh says. His reaction was that Kamsler had used poor judgment in one part of his life, but there was no evidence that he had done anything wrong in a professional context. Greenhalgh decided this should be seen as an isolated incident, explaining in an interview with me, “As far as I was concerned, it had nothing to do with the family and it was done, over and finished.”
    Feeling increasingly frustrated, Carla and Ian decided to take direct action and actually go visit Huguette Clark. One relative mentioned that Huguette had supposedly been at Doctors Hospital in the1990s, which had been taken over by Beth Israel. A telephone operator at Beth Israel confirmed to Ian that they did have a patient with the right name. He insists that they wanted “to make sure that our aunt was not being kept alive by artificial means in some inhumane fashion.”
    Before heading to the hospital, Carla asked for advice from one of the few family members who had been in touch with Huguette. California Realtor Paul Clark Newell Jr., a descendant of William Andrews Clark’s younger sister Ella, had been working for a decade on an unpublished biography of Senator Clark. He had interviewed Huguette, although they had last spoken four years earlier in 2004. The go-between who arranged his calls was Suzanne Pierre, the widow of Huguette’s physician and the heiress’s best friend.
    At Carla’s behest, Newell called Suzanne Pierre, who told him that Huguette was “well taken care of” and was “always in a good mood.” Newell then sent Carla a lengthy e-mail, describing the conversation and cautioning Carla to keep her distance.
    She said also that Huguette doesn’t get out much anymore—which seems to suggest that she may leave the hospital from time to time… Who knows? Perhaps she’s passed you unrecognized while shopping at Macy’s? My conclusion is that Huguette is simply an unusual person… for reasons which we may never fully understand she has chosen to further insulate herself from nearly everyone…
    Newell summarized what he had learned about Huguette’s family history on her mother’s side—that she had no living relatives—and wrote that Huguette’s attorney, Wallace Bock, had been consistently “pleasant” to him. Newell recalled that Huguette had been alert and lucid during their last conversation. But the Realtor noted that he was not privy to information about her finances.
    None of this addresses your concern as to whether she is getting the best financial counsel and that her assets are being managed ethically and responsibly. But absent compelling indications to the contrary, I don’t see how you can probe this issue… Further, thereis the question as to who has the necessary “standing” to file a complaint or seek an investigation, and on what grounds???…
    I feel that calling at the hospital is not a good idea, that your chances of a friendly reception there are from slim to none and that such “good will” as you may now enjoy vis-à-vis Huguette might be irreparably damaged by making an unwelcome approach… Fond regards, Paul

    The bright blue sign over the entryway at Beth Israel Medical Center looks garish against the backdrop of the sweeping white concrete columns of the silolike structure, which sits on the busy corner of First Avenue and Sixteenth Street. Inside the bustling ten-floor, 1,100-bed hospital, one serene third-floor area has been set aside to cater to well-to-do patients. The suites offer views overlooking Stuyvesant Square, concierge service, flat-screen televisions, fluffy bathrobes, unrestricted visiting hours, and in-room sleep sofas for family members. “The unit is more reminiscent of a luxury hotel than a hospital,” notes the facility’s promotional material. Nonetheless, this teaching hospital, located in a noisy commercial neighborhood, lacks the cachet of its Upper East Side competitors.
    Founded in 1890 as a clinic for poor Jewish immigrants working in the