Holocaust survivor, Staten Island developer’s $40 million estate still unclaimed
The estate of Roman Blum, who died in 2012 at age 97, has been whittled down by taxes and attorney fees.
Who inherits Roman Blum Estate and Properties?
The latest potential heir is a Russian resident who believes he is the wealthy man’s great-grandson.
Blum amassed his fortune as a pioneer in Staten Island real estate, building and selling homes.
The friend, Teresa Musial, claims Joseph Blum left his entire fortune to her in a secret will he allegedly gave her after his death.
Before immigrating to America, Blum married a woman named Ester Lajzerevna in Poland, and the couple had a daughter, Hannah, in 1937, according to court documents filed by Shimnyuk.
Hannah’s daughter, Tatyana, was born in 1954 and gave birth to Shimnyuk in October 1977, he asserts in legal papers. Hannah died in 2001; Tatyana in 2011, Shimnyuk said.
Shimnyuk “is the only lineal descendant … of Roman Blum, and would therefore be the only person entitled to inherit from the estate,” according to a genealogy report filed in Staten Island Surrogate Court.
A far more romantic competing claim maintains Blum was childless, and had a long-lost love in Warsaw, bequeathing everything to her in a secret will.
Mckourage