The Peculiar Truth about the Queen of Mean

• 1981: Jay Panzirer of New York City died of a heart attack at age 42. He left behind a wife and four children. He had worked for his mother’s company. Jay was the only child of NYC real estate mogul Leona Helmsley.

• Days after Panzirer’s memorial service, Helmsley evicted her son’s wife and kids from their home which she owned. She also sued her son’s estate over a back-due loan of $150,000.

• For that action and several others yet to come, the NYC tabloid press dubbed her the Queen of Mean.

• Her birth name was Lena Rosenthal, and he was born in Upstate New York near Poughkeepsie in 1920. To avoid her Polish-Jewish heritage, she changed her name to Leona Roberts. In 1938 when she turned 18, she married Leo Panzirer, a lawyer. With him she gave birth to her only child Jay. She then divorced Panzirer, married a garment industry executive named Joseph Lubin, divorced Lubin, married Lubin again, and then divorced him a second time. By age 40, she was a three-time divorcee.

• Out on her own in the 1960s, Leona broke into the real estate business. During the Manhattan condo craze, her net worth ballooned. By the end of the decade, Helmsley was a millionaire.

• However, her unscrupulous sales tactics came under scrutiny and her real estate license was revoked. Not a problem. She married an even more powerful real estate tycoon in 1972.

• Harry Helmsley managed the Empire State Building among other giant ventures. He also began investing in Manhattan hotels, which Leona managed. Together, they became a high society power couple.

• Then her son died in 1981 and she sued his widow. She made few friends during that era.

• In magazine ads Helmsley wore crowns as if to suggest her hotels were fit for royalty. From that the Queen of Mean nickname was born.

• Throughout the 1980s, Helmsley garnered a reputation for ruthless perfectionism. She managed 30 luxury hotels in the most fashionable Manhattan neighborhoods and was known for firing employees on the spot for any minor infraction like a crumb on a carpet or an eyelash on a bathroom floor. Many former employees suggested working for her was pure hell.

• Stories were told of how tight-fisted Helmsley could be. She often bought high-priced shoes on her company’s account and then took them back to the store for a personal refund so she could pocket the money with no tax consequences.

• Her mean reputation extended to general contractors, too. She paid late or as tax dodges. Some of them were stiffed altogether.

• 1988: Years before running for NYC mayor, Rudy Giuliani was the District Attorney for the Southern District of New York, a powerful legal title with broad powers. His team learned that Harry and Leona Helmsley hadn’t paid taxes to the tune of $4 million.

• They were both indicted on 33 counts of tax evasion and fraud. But only Leona went to trial; her 80-year-old husband was deemed too mentally unfit.

• Among the many former employees eager to testify against her in court was one housekeeper who revealed an infamous Leona Helmsley quote: “We don’t pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes.”

• That sealed her fate. Leona was convicted of tax evasion. She spent a year and a half in federal prison.

• After her release, she returned to Manhattan but remained in the shadows.

• 1997: Harry Helmsley died and left everything to Leona. She inherited billions.

• However, by state law convicted felons cannot have liquor licenses. As a result, she had to sell off many of her hotels.

• For the final ten years of her life, Leona became a philanthropist. Her contributions to the families of fallen police and firefighters after the attacks of September 11, 2001 numbered in the millions. She also gave to medical charities.

• When Helmsley died in 2007, her will left $5 million to only two of her four grandchildren and nothing to her daughter-in-law.

• By contrast, the Queen of Mean’s beloved Maltese terrier, a dog named Trouble, was bequeathed $12 million.

• ALSO:

• Leona Helmsley’s chief NYC real estate rival bought the Empire State Building in 1995 and publicly criticized her for leaving him a rundown property.

• When asked for comment about her rival, Helmsley tersely replied, “I hate Donald Trump.”