Posted on November 21, 2009

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Jury Gives Glassell Fortune to Museum, Family Foundation

A Texas jury has ruled that late philanthropist and oilman Alfred Glassell, Jr. was neither incapacitated nor unduly influenced when he signed a will leaving the bulk of his half-billion dollar estate to charity, the Houston Chronicle reports.

Glassell, the founder of the Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Corporation and the Glassell School of Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, died in October 2008 at the age of 95, leaving behind a $500 million estate that included stocks and bonds, oil leases, ranches, and artifact treasures. In his 2003 will, the last of thirteen wills he drew up over the years, Glassell left most of his estate to MFAH and the Glassell Family Foundation.

Curry Glassell, the oilman's daughter, challenged the 2003 will, arguing that her father was demented by the time he signed his last few wills and that his lawyers pushed him into changing his will to give money to a charity the lawyers' firm also represented, Bloomberg.com reports. Curry Glassell asked the court to instead honor a 1998 version of her father's will, which would have left her and other family members a significantly larger bequest than the 2003 will did.

The elder Glassell's widow and son, Alfred Glassell III, are in favor of honoring the 2003 will. Glassell III will serve as executor of the will, which gives him control of the family foundation.

"I'm disappointed that the earlier will was not upheld," said Curry Glassell. "I think it more accurately reflected my father's wishes, but the jury disagreed."

Flood, Mary. “Oilman Glassell's Daughter Loses in Estate Fight.” Houston Chronicle 11/17/09.

Brubaker Calkins, Laurel. Cronin Fisk, Margaret. “Oilman 'Manipulated' to Give Estate to Charity, Heiress Says.” Bloomberg.com 11/06/09.

Primary Subject: Philanthropy and Voluntarism
Secondary Subject(s): Arts and Culture
Location(s): Houston, Texas

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