Steve Bing had hundreds of millions of dollars and what seemed like a fantasy life, but it was obviously more complicated than that.
For one thing, he was on the outs with his father and his sister, who’d gone out of their way to cruelly excise Steve’s children from the father’s will and fortune (said to be worth more than $600 million). Apparently, Mary Bing, the sister, wanted to make sure Steve’s children– whom he didn’t know and had different mothers– wouldn’t inherit any part of the fortune created by their grandfather, the famed real estate developer Leo Bing. Mary, who is divorced, has two children and wanted them to get everything. In January, a judge ruled against her and her father, Peter Bing, clearing the way for Steve’s children to lay claims against Peter’s estate. So Steve, who had little to no relationship with his own children, was cut off from his parents during the pandemic.
Meantime, Elizabeth Hurley, mother of Steve’s son, Damian, posted a statement to Instagram. She wrote: “I am saddened beyond belief that my ex Steve is no longer with us. It is a terrible end. Our time together was very happy and I’m posting these pictures because although we went through some tough times, it’s the good, wonderful memories of a sweet, kind man that matter. In the past year we had become close again. We last spoke on our son’s 18th birthday. This is devastating news and I thank everyone for their lovely messages”
One note on Mary Bing: she has $86 million parked in a Private Foundation registered in Reno, Nevada. It’s called Cordelia Corp., which suggests she thought of herself as Cordelia, the “favorite daughter” from Shakespeare’s “King Lear.” The foundation gives away around $2 million a year, mostly to Yale University.
