Harry Helmsley, Real Estate Tycoon, Dies at 87

NEW YORK —  Billionaire Harry Helmsley, one of the richest and most powerful businessmen in New York City real estate, has died at the age of 87.

Helmsley died Saturday afternoon at Scottsdale Memorial Hospital in Arizona of pneumonia, Howard Rubenstein, Helmsley’s New York-based spokesman, said Sunday.

Helmsley’s wife, Leona, the self-proclaimed queen of a string of hotels the couple owned, was at his bedside when he died.

“My fairy tale is over. I lived a magical life with Harry,” she said in a statement.

The real estate tycoon had been ill for some time and had been hospitalized for about a week, the spokesman said.

His holdings included a partnership in the Empire State Building, which he bought in 1961 for $65 million. He also controlled 27 hotels and 50,000 apartments, and had other real estate holdings in Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and other cities.

Forbes magazine ranked him the 67th richest American, putting his net worth at more than $1.7 billion in October 1996.

Helmsley and his wife were indicted in a federal income tax evasion and mail fraud case.

Helmsley was ruled unfit to stand trial because of his failing memory and the effects of a stroke. However, legal papers said his wife made the business decisions.

Leona Helmsley was convicted in 1989, given a 32-month sentence at a federal prison and ordered to pay $6.3 million in fines. Her sentence was later reduced to 21 months because of the ill health of her husband.

Helmsley married the former Leona Mindy Rosenthal, a real estate executive, in 1972 after divorcing his wife of 33 years. It was a second marriage for both. They had no children.

A private funeral service for the family will be held, Rubenstein said.