Cigar company heiress left a fortune to her maid and created a fund at The Trust.
Gertrude Corbitt (1880-1959)
In gratitude for more than 20 years of service and friendship, Mary Gertrude Lewis left her maid and companion a wealthy woman. “I should feel happy,” Ilona Berkey said after learning she’d just inherited a $250,000 trust fund. “But I’m still very sad. I miss her terribly.”
Gertrude, as she was known, was born in San Francisco on July 28, 1880, to William Lewis, a cigar manufacturer, and the former Emelie Levy. She had one sister, Edna Lewis. Gertrude married William Henry Corbitt, an international lawyer, in 1914, and they lived on West 54th Street in Manhattan.
William had been working in Paris for several years, and the couple had been living near the Champs-Élysées, when he died of pneumonia in the winter of 1936. After returning to New York, Gertrude moved to Park Avenue and hired Ilona.
Gertrude died in 1959 in Santa Monica, California. In addition to the trust fund, she left her friend and companion cash, jewelry, and furniture.
Alhough Gertrude Corbitt never had children, she was always interested in helping low-income children, which is why she also created a fund in The New York Community Trust.
Ralph Hayes, then president of The Trust, publicized the generous gift to Ilona, and the story made newspaper headlines nationwide.
Since Ilona’s death in 1996, Gertrude’s fund has been used to support assist impoverished children.