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Audrey Jones Beck Building - Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Photo by Judson Dunn, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Oilman Glassell’s daughter loses in estate fight against Texas museum

Catherine Saunders-Watson
Catherine Saunders-Watson

Audrey Jones Beck Building - Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Photo by Judson Dunn, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
Audrey Jones Beck Building – Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Photo by Judson Dunn, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

 HOUSTON (AP) – A jury has affirmed the charity-benefiting will of Houston oilman Alfred Glassell Jr. and rejected a challenge by his daughter.
On Monday the jury ruled against 52-year-old Curry Glassell’s attempt to break the 2003 will, in an estate estimated at $500 million.
Attorney Joe Jamail, representing the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, told the Houston Chronicle that his client’s evidence “refuted every one of their insinuations, accusations and innuendoes.” Curry Glassell’s lawyers had contented that her father was demented at the time he signed his last few wills.

Glassell Jr. was 95 when he died in October 2008. He founded Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Corp. and the Glassell School of Art.
The museum aligned with his widow, the Glassell Family Foundation, and Curry’s brother Alfred Glassell III, who is the executor.
Curry Glassell said she was disappointed with the ruling.
A foundation attorney says Curry Glassell has an estimated $15 million.
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Information from: Houston Chronicle, http://www.houstonchronicle.com
AP-WS-11-17-09 0837EST