WASHINGTON — Ronald
Perelman is in the news, and once again it is for his family’s trademark feuds,
fueled by millions, many millions, of dollars.
In the latest round, now
on display at a New Jersey court, Perelman’s daughter is suing her uncle over
her grandfather’s inheritance for more than $600 million. In the past decades,
there have been similarly expensive lawsuits with ex-wives and even between
Perelman and his brother.
But in the Jewish
community, especially in the Philadelphia area, the Perelman family is known
more for philanthropy than for scandals. While some may associate the name with
raunchy tabloid headlines, others see it on plaques marking the family’s
donations on the walls of hospital wings, school buildings and synagogues.
The Perelmans’
contributions to the Jewish community are undergoing a generational shift.
While Raymond Perelman, the family patriarch, made his mark on Conservative
Judaism by funding day schools and synagogues, his son Ronald Perelman’s
personal draw to Orthodox life is translated into more attention being given to
Chabad, and more donations going to Chabad-related causes.
In Orthodox circles,
Ronald Perelman is known for his strict observance, keeping kosher wherever he
travels and flying rabbinical students across the globe to make a minyan for
Sabbath prayers.
“I believe that God plays
this enormous role in my life, and I believe that it’s my obligation to give
back and to follow the rules that were set,” Ronald Perelman said in a 2011
interview.
The Perelman prominence
in the Jewish community began with Raymond Perelman, 96, a successful
businessman who moved to the Philadelphia suburb of Elkins Park after marrying
Ruth Caplan (who died in 2011 at the age of 90).
The couple’s two sons, Ronald
and Jeffrey, followed in their father’s footsteps in the business world,
although it was clear from the start that Ronald, who is now 70, was the one
who shared his father’s passion for high-stakes acquisitions and trades. Ronald
Perelman’s net worth is currently estimated by Forbes magazine at $14 billion,
making him the 27th richest American.
He is the chairman of the cosmetics giant
Revlon and is involved in numerous other investment areas.
Perelman’s personal life
has drawn just as much attention as his business success. A serial monogamist,
he has been married five times and has eight children. His divorce cases ended
with hefty settlements and extensive tabloid coverage.
Perelman met his first
wife, Faith Golding on a cruise to Israel when he was 21. They were married for
19 years and had four children together. His second wife, Claudia Cohen, a
former New York Post gossip columnist, was also born into wealth. Her father,
Robert Cohen, owned the Hudson News airport retail network.
It is this branch of the
Perelman family that is currently onstage. Or rather, in court. Samantha
Perelman, 23, Perelman’s daughter with Cohen — who died in 2007 — is suing her
uncle James Cohen over the Hudson News inheritance. She is claiming that he
used “undue influence” to persuade his father, Robert Cohen, who was ill at the
time, to cut her mother from most of his estate.
The lawsuit reflects the
noxious relationship that Ronald Perelman has had with his former
brother-in-law, and Perelman’s belief that Robert Cohen was not fit to make
decisions about his estate because of his medical condition. Perelman was once
even banned from visiting the Cohen residence after being accused of attending
a bar mitzvah celebration uninvited in order to spy on Cohen to look into his
health.
The trial going on at the New Jersey Superior Court, in Hackensack, is
as ugly as could be expected. In the latest developments, lawyers for Samantha
Perelman presented a video of her late grandfather unable to speak clearly or
to read a document presented to him — further proof, they claim, that he was
not fit at the time the decision was made to bequeath most of his estate to his
son rather than to his late daughter.
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