Davidson Wanted His Charitable Foundation To Emphasize Family

As I have previously discussed, the legal battle between the William Davidson’s widow and son versus Jonathan Aaron, co-executor of Davidson’s estate and president of the William Davidson foundation, and wife Mary is expected to continue in Delaware once the suit is filed. Davidson’s net worth was more than $3 billion when he diedin 2009. Since his death, his foundation has given millions to several charitableorganizations including the Jewish Federation of Metro Detroit, and theAmerican Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science in New York.

JonathanAaron a member of the foundation’s board filed a request for a judge to splitthe foundation claiming that the board cannot resolve any issues. As a result,some of the foundations assets are being wasted. Karen Davidson, Davidson’s wife, claims thatDavidson’s intent was for the foundation to be only one organization so thatthe family could work together on future charitable matters. 

See L.L. Brasier, Family Feuds Over Late Billionaire WIlliam Davidson’s Charitable Trust, Detroit Free Press, May 28, 2013.

Special thanks to Brian Cohan (Attorney at Law, Law Offices of Brian J. Cohan, P.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.