Here's Who Inherited Leonard Bernstein's Money

Here's Who Inherited Leonard Bernstein's Money

In its article, published on December 14, 1990, the LA Times provided a good overview of the distribution of Leonard Bernstein's fortune following the composer's death. It doesn't say what percentages of money his children received (only that it be equal among them), nor any details of wealth distribution, although the overall disbursement is well-organized and well-structured.

Bernstein also left up to 3% of his estate's value to the above-mentioned Schuyler G. Chapin, Harry J. Kraut, Paul H. Epstein. Each of those people doubled up as Bernstein's friends and business associates, and all three of them served as executors and trustees of Bernstein's will. The Times also says the will mentioned other people, but doesn't discuss any allocations of funds to them. Specifically, the will mentions Bernstein's secretary, Helen Coates, who at the time of Bernstein's death had already died, and Bernstein's housekeeper, Julia Vega, whom the will insisted be kept in the employment of Bernstein's estate.


As far as Bernstein's main inheritors are concerned — his three children — there's no mention of quantities of funds, but debating such information might be disrespectful, anyway. Bernstein's children — Jamie Bernstein, Alexander Bernstein, and Nina Bernstein Simmons — have gone on to develop careers in the arts, or else help in the maintenance of their father's legacy and estate, as the Leonard Bernstein Office describes. All three children came from Bernstein's marriage to Felicia Montealegre, who died in 1978 from lung cancer, 12 years before Bernstein's own death (per Biography).