Leona Helmsley

About Leona Helmsley

Leona Mindy Rosenthal Helmsley (July 4, 1920 – August 20, 2007) was a billionaire New York City hotel operator and real estate investor. She was a flamboyant personality and had a reputation for tyrannical behavior that earned her the nickname "Queen of Mean.", that image of Helmsley was sealed when a former housekeeper testified that she had heard Helmsley say: "We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes.", a saying that became notorious and identified with her for the rest of her life. She was later convicted of federal income tax evasion and other crimes in 1989 and served 19 months in prison (and two more months under house arrest), after receiving an initial sentence of 16 years.

Leona Helmsley was born Lena Mindy Rosenthal in Marbletown, Ulster County, New York, to Polish Jewish immigrants, daughter of a hatmaker. Her family moved to Brooklyn while she was still a girl, and moved six more times before settling in Manhattan. She dropped out of high school to seek her fortune. In a short time, she changed her name several times--from Lee Roberts, Mindy Roberts, Leni Roberts and Leona Mindy Roberts. Eventually, she decided on Leona Mindy Roberts. She legally changed her surname to Roberts.. Helmsley would later claim that she appeared in billboard ads for Chesterfield cigarettes, but there is no evidence of this, and her claim remains entirely unsubstantiated. She was, however, a chain smoker, using several packs a day.

Her first husband was attorney Leo Panzirer, whom she divorced in 1952. Their only son was Jay (1940–1982), who had four children with his wife, Mimi. Leona was twice married to and divorced from her second husband, garment industry executive Joseph Lubin. After a brief stint at a sewing factory, she joined a New York real estate firm, where her sales prowess eventually won her a promotion to vice president.