Whether Cornell University will accept a foundation provided in the will of Leslie B. Palmer, widely known Yonkers banker, who died August 31, because it provides for a dormitory for “Gentile, Protestant, white students and instructors,” has not yet been determined, as no formal notice has yet gone forth to the university.
Appointment of a Jewish lawyer as guardian of the mililonaire’s sons today had increased interest in the matter. Such notice to Cornell may soon be given, however, as the will has just been formally probated by Surrogate George A. Slater in Surrogate’s Court at White Plains. Asked as to the attitude of the University on such a sectarian gift, Dr. Livingston Farrand, president of the institution at Ithaca, N. Y., declared, “I have no information concerning the matter, and am, therefore, not in a position to make any statement.”
The specific provision in the will, penned in the late banker’s own handwriting, and covering several thousand words which dispose of millions of dollars states in explaining the disposition of terminated trusts:
“Tenth: the balance of the estate shall be paid to the trustees of Cornell University to be used in the erection of a dormitory in which Gentile Protestant white students and instructors of the Anglo-Saxon race may lodge at a nominal cost.”
Because of the unusual provision, special attention here today focused upon the appointment of Harry C. Adams, a leading Jewish lawyer here and in New York, who is also vice-president of the Yonkers Board of Education, as special guardian for Mr. Palmer’s two children, Richard and Wayne Palmer. Adams named by Surrogate Slater to represent the two boys, reported no objection to the will, thus permitting its rapid probate. Mr. Adams said each of the sons inherits a $350,000 trust fund and shares also in the residuary estate.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
