One of the relatives who challenged the will of reclusive heiress Huguette Clark has died a couple of million dollars richer.
Lewis R.M. Hall told the Surrogate's Court that he recalled seeing his Great-Aunt Huguette only once in his life, at his mother's funeral in 1968 at St. Thomas Church on Fifth Avenue, but he was not introduced to her. After the funeral, he said, Huguette briefly spoke with her half-sister Katherine Clark Morris, who was Lewis's grandmother and the mother of the deceased, and then Huguette left the church. (As described in "Empty Mansions," Huguette had been a bridesmaid for the deceased, her half-niece, at that same altar in 1924.)
After Huguette died in 2011, Lewis was one of 19 relatives who challenged her last will and testament, which had left nothing to her relatives. As a group, they received $37 million. (That's $34.5 million in the settlement of the case last September, and half of the $5 million that was repaid to the estate by her nurse, Hadassah Peri.)
Although he lived directly across Central Park from Huguette, Lewis told the court he "does not recall having attempted to communicate with Mrs. Clark at any time."
