Huguette Clark
| Huguette Clark | |
|---|---|
Huguette Clark (right) c. 1917 (age approximately 11) with her sister Andrée (left) and her father William A. Clark (center)
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| Born |
Huguette Marcelle Clark June 9, 1906 Paris, France |
| Died | May 24, 2011 (aged 104) Beth Israel Medical Center Manhattan, New York City |
| Resting place |
Woodlawn Cemetery The Bronx, New York, United States |
| Residence | New York City, New York, United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Spence School |
| Occupation | Painter |
| Known for | Heiress to Clark copper fortune; recluse |
| Spouse(s) | William MacDonald Gower (m. 1928; div. 1930) |
| Parent(s) |
William A. Clark Anna Eugenia La Chapelle |
Huguette Marcelle Clark (/ˈuːɡɛt/; June 9, 1906 – May 24, 2011) was an heiress and philanthropist, who became well known again late in life as a recluse, living in a hospital for more than 20 years while her mansions remained empty. She was the youngest daughter of United States Senator and industrialist William A. Clark. Upon her death at 104 in 2011, Clark left behind a fortune of more than $300 million, most of which was donated to charity after a court fight with her distant relatives. A feature film of her life is planned, based on the bestselling book Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune
Huguette Clark was born on June 9, 1906, in Paris, France. She was the second daughter of William A. Clark, from his second wife, the former Anna Eugenia La Chapelle (1878–1963). Her father was a former U.S. Senator from Montana and businessman involved in mining and railroads. In addition to her older sister, Louise Amelia Andrée Clark (1902–1919), she had five half-siblings from her father's first marriage to Katherine Louise Stauffer:
She was educated at the Spence School in Manhattan. Following the death of her father in 1925, Clark and her mother moved from a mansion at 962 Fifth Avenue, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, to a twelfth-floor apartment nearby at 907 Fifth Avenue. She later purchased the entire eighth floor of the building.
In 1928, she agreed to donate $50,000 (equivalent to $697,000 in today's dollars) to excavate the salt pond and create an artificial freshwater lake across from Bellosguardo (34°25′06″N 119°39′38″W / 34.418376°N 119.660664°W), her family's 23-acre (93,000 m2; 9.3 ha) estate on the Pacific Coast in Santa Barbara, California. She stipulated that the facility would be named the Andrée Clark Bird Refuge, after her sister, who had died of meningitis.
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