Trust Fund of US ‘Queen of Mean’ Gives $25 Million to Haifa U

The Helmsley Charitable trust, which was bankrolled by the late hotel tycoon “Queen of Mean” Leona Helmsley, has donated $25 million to Haifa University, which will use the funds for undersea robots and automated vehicles and undersea laboratories for its new Mediterranean Sea Research Center.

Her name became more widely known for her including her dog in her will, which set aside $12 million for the canine, but a court reduced the sum to a paltry $2 million. That was only a small portion of her $4 billion estate that grew from her involvement in the hotel industry.

Helmsley, who died in 2007, also served a jail sentence of tax evasion.

The university said that the new technology purchased with the donation will help its research in marine environment and development.