Art collector died in hospital against his wishes, court told

BUSINESSMAN AND art collector Gordon Lambert, who donated more than 300 paintings to the Irish Museum of Modern Art (Imma), died alone, separated from his extended family and in a hospital against his wishes, it was claimed in the High Court yesterday.

Giving evidence in her bid to have Mr Lambert’s last will struck down, his niece June Lambert said her family had been very wealthy and her grandmother, Mr Lambert’s mother, had employed full-time staff, a move that ensured she could stay in her own home until she died.

Ms Lambert said her uncle Gordon, who had Parkinson’s disease for 20 years before his death,  made it clear on a number of occasions that he wished to also stay at home and at all counts avoid being placed in a nursing home.

Ms Lambert of Pembroke Lane, Dublin, and her cousin Mark Lambert of Rathdown Park, Greystones, Co Wicklow, have brought proceedings to strike down Gordon Lambert’s last will made in August 2003.

The proceedings are being taken against the executors Anthony Lyons, Churchtown, Dublin; Olive Beaumont, Heytesbury Lane, Ballsbridge, Dublin, who was a trustee of the Gordon Lambert Collection and a senior curator at Imma; and Catherine Marshall, of Kevin Street, Dublin.

Mr Lyons is a beneficiary of the estate and stands to inherit the residue after disbursements to family members and others.  There is no claim of impropriety against Ms Beaumont or Ms Marshall. All three executors reject the claims.

Responding to questions from Frank Callanan SC for Mr Lyons, Ms Lambert said Mr Lyons was a malign influence who had held an enduring power of attorney over her uncle’s affairs and who had issued instructions that his family were not to be allowed to see him in his final years. Ms Lambert said a number of “nasty letters” which had issued to her and about her from her uncle in the last two years of his life  bore the “stamp”, the sentence construction and style, of Mr Lyons.

Ultimately she received a “banning letter”, informing her Mr Lambert did not want to see any members of his family.

She said she believed the letters had been influenced by Mr Lyons. Ms Lambert rejected an accusation from Mr Callanan that she was “telling lies” and in fact had not complained over the care Mr Lyons had provided to her uncle, and was doing so now for personal gain. “I am a peace commissioner. I do not tell lies,” she said.

The case is expected to continue this morning.