Millionaire without a will Roman Blum died in 2013, leaving his money to . . . no one. The unclaimed $40 million dollar estate is the largest in New York history and will pass into the state’s ownership should no relatives be identified. One hurdle to the State of New York receiving this bounty has already been passed with the dismissal of a suit brought by Anthony J. Allegrino II. Allegrino produced a will purporting to be signed by Blum. In effect the court ruled that the millionaire without a will would remain so.
Blum was eccentric, perhaps because of his experiences as a Holocaust survivor. His wife predeceased him and he had no children. He also, at the end of the day, had no will.
The story has grabbed a lot of headlines through the years and other claims by supposedly distant relatives have been dismissed. Kars4Kids, however, does have a personal connection to the millionaire without a will. Some time after the story broke, we were shocked to discover that Roman Blum had donated a car to us only a few years before his passing.
Millionaire Without a Will: A Charitable Man
The millionaire without a will, for all that he somehow managing to pass intestate, appears to have been a charitable man. Roman Blum’s Mercury Sable with the vinyl top benefited many of the thousands of families and their children to whom we have provided educational and mentoring services over the years. We have no doubt that if Blum had left a will, nonprofits offering programs for children would have been among the deserving recipients, and education and mentoring, a central focus of his many bequests.
