Huguette Clark, the wealthy and generous New York copper heiress who earlier had rewarded her Filipino private nurse Hadas­sah Peri nearly $2 million for her dedication, left a $34 million in­heritance to the Filipino nurse from Brooklyn. In her will filed in Manhattan’s Surrogate Court this week, Clark cited her longtime nurse as a “loyal friend and companion,” spending more time with her than anyone else.

Clark, who died May 24 at age 104, also left Peri her valuable and extensive doll collection, which is conceivably worth millions of dol­lars. Clark’s fortune was valued at $400 million when she died, ac­cording to the law firm Holland & Knight. The 61-year-old Philippine-born immigrant said she was “profoundly sad” about Clark’s death and was “awed” by her boss’s generosity, pledging to use her inheritance for good.

“I saw her virtually every day for the 20 years,” she said. “I was her private duty nurse but also her close friend. I knew her as a kind and generous per­son, with whom I shared many wonderful moments and whom I loved very much I am profoundly sad at her passing. “Just as Madame Clark dem­onstrated kindness toward others in her actions,” she told the New York Post, “so, too, will I and my family devote a substantial por­tion of this bequest toward mak­ing the world a better place for all people.”

Peri was randomly chosen by a nursing agency to look after the copping-mining heiress in 1991. Over the years prior to her death, Clark gave Peri huge amount of cash to buy four prop­erties. Clark gave Peri the cash in 2000 and 2001 to buy two apart­ments in Manhattan, on East 96th Street near Park Avenue, for Peri’s children to use as dorms while they were in college, the at­torney said. They’re valued between $200,000 and $350,000 each, according to property records.

There also is a two-unit house near Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, near the Peri family home. Clark offered to buy this house so there would be room for Peri’s visiting family to stay. It’s valued at about $700,000.

Finally, there’s a vacation house next to a golf course on the Jersey Shore near Long Branch, N.J., valued at about $500,000. Property records show that Peri owns at least six properties in the New York area, including four that Peri’s attorney confirmed were gifts from her employer.

The generous centenarian, who owns a palatial 42-room Fifth Avenue spread in Manhattan opted to live in recluse at Beth Israel Medical Center for decades until her death. The Manhattan apartment and her country estate in Connecticut will be sold off to pay estate taxes of $44 million.

The gifts to Peri were tokens of Clark’s appreciation for Peri’s spending long hours at the hospi­tal as Clark’s private nurse, lawyer John Reiner said, adding that Peri was on call 24 hours a day.
Clark left nothing to any mem­bers of her family. Clark, who had no children, spent her final years in Beth Israel hospital under the false name of Harriet Chase, and with bogus next-of-kin listed in hospital re­cords.
Her will stated that she “inten­tionally” excluded her relatives, “having had minimal contacts with them over the years.”

She made bequests of $500,000 to her lawyer and ac­countant, both of whom are be­ing investigated by Manhattan’s district attorney over the handling of her financial affairs. Her goddaughter Wanda Styka will get $14 million. Clark’s Santa Barbara estate, all of her art (including pieces by Monet, Renoir and John Singer Sargent), and the rest of her as­sets will go to a new charity to help promote the arts.

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