Loner Makes Mysterious Bequest

Robert J. Gerin wrote a will splitting his estate of almost $500,000 between the U.S. Treasury and Consumer Reports.  And no one knows why.

The 59-year-old Bronx native wrote the will in 2010 three months before his death.  Gerin is thought to have last been a bus driver.  His fortune is thought to have been made through an inheritance from his parents and his frugality.  The will provides no reasoning for the bequests but Gerin’s lawyer said he had a distrust for the government of the state of the New York. 

A spokesman for the Treasury Department says bequests like this are typical.  The Treasury received $1.76 million for the last fiscal year, which is about average.  The bequest to Consumer Reports is above average.

See Thomas Prohaska, ‘Loner’ Leaves $500,000 Estate to Federal Government, Consumer Reports, The Buffalo News, Feb. 8, 2014.