Hotelier Leona Helmsley Dies

WNYC News | Jul 12, 2010

Hotelier Leona Helmsley died today at her home in Greenwich, Connecticut. She was 87. Her publicist says she died of heart failure.

REPORTER: Helmsley helped her husband, Harry, run a $5 billion real estate empire that once included managing the Empire State Building. But she also became known as the "queen of mean" during her 1989 tax evasion trial -- a case that earned widespread media attention.

REPORTER: Real estate tycoon Donald Trump called Helmsely "definitely one of a kind."

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