Taubman's Widow Locked Out of London Flat by Stepchildren: Report

Two paintings in the late A. Alfred Taubman’s 500-piece collection to be auctioned this fall by Sotheby’s were the source of a dust-up between the business tycoon’s widow and her stepchildren. (Photos via Sotheby’s)

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Judy Taubman, the widow of Bloomfield Hills billionaire businessman and philanthropist A. Alfred Taubman, was locked out of her luxurious flat in London last week in a dispute over a pair of paintings that are part of a 500-piece collection to auctioned by Sotheby’s this fall, according to a British tabloid.

The Daily Mail of London reported last week that the 70-year-old former Miss Israel’s stepchildren locked her out of the $8 million Mayfair flat she had shared with her husband when they were abroad.

According to the London tabloid, Taubman came home to find the locks had been changed on the flat and a guard was standing at the door.

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The three Taubman children from his first marriage to his high school sweetheart, Reva Kolodney — Gayle Taubman Kalisman, Robert Taubman and William Taubman, trustees of the A. Alfred Taubman Foundation — wanted a team of experts from Sotheby’s to immediately pick up the paintings.

Judy Taubman, the 1962 Miss Universe runner-up who married the tycoon in 1982, told the Daily Mail that her husband of 33 years “will be turning in his grave at how his children are behaving.”

A spokesman for the Taubman children said the incident was “regrettable and unnecessary” and said that it had been resolved with “no force needed.” They pointed out that the flat was owned by the estate and that “no one was blocking her entry.”

The paintings at issue are worth about $310,000 each. The 500-piece collection could fetch anywhere from $500 million to $1 billion. The proceeds from the auction, which begins Nov. 4, will be used to settle estate taxes and endow the foundation.

Taubman was a generous donor to the Detroit Institute of Arts, the University of Michigan, Lawrence Technological University and Wayne State University, and was a leader in bringing stem cell research to Michigan and fighting illnesses such as ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease.