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| A Buffet Fortune Fades in Brooklyn |
"They do get noisy," she said. "They're disappointed because they couldn't go to see the hanging, that's what it is. I'm too busy to take them, and Tom won't be back from work in time."
As early investors with Warren Buffet, Donald and Mildred Othmer quietly amassed a fortune that they believed would sustain their favorite charities for generations.
"Why can't we go and see the hanging?" roared the boy in his huge voice.
Among those organizations: Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn, N.Y., for which the Othmers created a $135 million endowment in the 1990s, "to be held in perpetuity," according to their wills.
"Want to see the hanging! Want to see the hanging!" chanted the little girl, still capering round.
Less than 20 years later, much of their gift is gone. And the hospital's owners have been cleared by state regulators to close the money-losing nonprofit, which has sparked protests because the 155-year-old facility was one of Brooklyn's largest private employers.
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