http://www.nypost.com/seven/08202007...ck_bennett.htm
August 20, 2007 -- Hotel and real estate empress Leona Helmsley died today at her summer home in Greenwich, Conn., her long-time publicist announced this morning.
She was 87 and died of heart failure.
For nearly four decades the Helmsley name was synonymous with luxury-living as she developed a chain of landmark hotels in Manhattan like the Park Lane Hotel, the New York Helmsley Hotel, and the Helmsley Palace Hotel.
She became the public-face and "Queen" of Helmsley Hotels and a philanthropist who donated millions to local and international causes.
But during the 1980s, she also earned the moniker "Queen of Mean" for the harsh demands she placed on her staff and later an income tax evasion conviction that sent her to prison for 18 months.
Perhaps she will most be remembered for saying, "We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes."