A late widow who lived in a modest New York City apartment, eschewed fancy jewelry and favored track suits over furs has surprised friends by leaving a $20 million fortune to the New York Public Library and a nonprofit group that looks after Central Park.
Mary McConnell Bailey died at age 88 in 2011.
From The NY Post:
The library and Central Park Conservancy recently got checks for $10 million each.
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Even the library didn’t know how much she was going to donate.
“I met her many times and had lunch with her twice, but I cannot remember her voice. That’s how soft-spoken she was,” said John Bacon, the library’s director of planned giving.
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Bailey’s family had owned shares in the Roaring Spring Blank Book Co., which produces the marble-cover notebooks nearly every schoolkid uses.
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