By: Ellen Cans
Composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim left behind an estate worth about $75 million.
As reported by the NY Post, the Broadway legend credited for “reinventing the American musical”, left a will bequeathing some $75 million to his loved ones, friends, colleagues and charities. The 91-year-old died in his home suddenly in November, following Thanksgiving, as announced by his lawyer and friend F. Richard Pappas.
His will, written in 2017, and filed last month in Manhattan Surrogate’s court left his fortune—including the rights to his music and literary works— to the Stephen J. Sondheim Revocable Trust. Beneficiaries include some 20 people and charities, namely his husband Jeffrey Romley, the Smithsonian Institute, the Museum of New York City, the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, the Dramatists Guild Fund and the Irish Repertory Theater Company.
“Stephen Sondheim has worked with the top planning attorneys in the country and has a very good sound estate plan that will benefit his spouse and his friends and charitable organizations that were important to him,” a source, a New York trust and estate lawyer not connected to the estate, told The Post. “Also, it keeps order of his intellectual property … there is somebody who is managing his musical legacy.”
Sondheim earned extensive international acclaim as songwriter for a long list of musical hits, including the music for “West Side Story”, “Company”, “Follies”, “Gypsy”, and “Into the Woods”, to name a few. He received countless honors including eight Tony Awards, eight Grammy Awards, an academy award, a Pulitzer Prize, and a Laurence Olivier Award. He also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015 from former President Barack Obama.
“We feel honored that Stephen Sondheim — theater titan, lifelong New Yorker, and 2013 Louis Auchincloss Prize recipient — recognized our mission as New York’s storyteller by including us as a beneficiary of his trust,” Whitney Donhauser, the Director of Museum of the City of New York, said in a statement. “His generous contribution allows us to continue sharing the powerful, diverse, and important role of the theater in New York City.”
Sondheim “never failed to honor us with his staunch support … especially of our musicals and musical adaptations,” said Irish Repertory Theater co-founders in a statement. They called the bequest “a lovely surprise.”
The Library of Congress commented saying it “enjoyed a long and warm relationship with Stephen Sondheim and our hearts broke when we learned of his passing. We hope to celebrate his life and achievements as part of his archival legacy.”
