The Devil's Casino_ Friendship, Betrayal - Vicky Ward [49]
in Pettit's will left half his estate to Martha. The codicil was dated May 1994. "It was the
date that horrified me," says Mary Anne. She does not understand why he would have
done such a thing unless he felt guilty for making Dillman give up her job.
Steve Lessing always kept an eye out for Chris 's children--he got Chris Jr. a job as a
scout with the New York Giants. And he bought Finnegan's and gave the Pettit children a
share of the investment in the place. It's currently one of the most popular pubs in
Huntington.
There was no end to the enmity between the two "widows": The Pettit family was
shocked to learn that not only would Martha Dillman be getting half of Chris's money but
she had also taken out a $4 million insurance policy on Chris's life.
Why--and how--could she have done that? Mary Anne Pettit certainly didn't understand.
She wanted to hold a wrongful death hearing, but refrained when she heard that Kari
would have to testify.
Kari still blames herself for what happened. She rarely speaks about that night, and there
was no way she could have made it through a trial.
Dillman also contested Mary Anne's claim to Chris's deferred compensation. Mary Anne
appealed to Dick Fuld for help, and he assured her that Dillman would "get the money
over my dead body." Legally, as Chris's widow, there was no doubt that Mary Anne had
the right to the money, and Fuld kept his word. Mary Anne received Chris's deferred
compensation--until, that is, Lehman filed for bankruptcy, and all deferred compensation
checks stopped.
Dillman moved on quickly. In November 1998, the year after Pettit's death, she married
Douglas Malcolm Schair; he had bought the large house in Maine she and Chris had
built. They soon divorced, and in 2004 she married William Zeitz, vice president of the
Maine College of Art. She is now separated from him.
Joe Gregory kept in touch with Mary Anne Pettit; they were, after all, neighbors and Lara
was still working in the Lehman office. The Tuckers remained her best friends.
Perry Moncreiffe, who came over from Britain for the funeral, says that when he saw Joe
Gregory that day he was struck by how his demeanor had completely changed.
Moncreiffe says he was no longer the Ponderosa's "Little Joe." He was now a man
ascendant, a man of power.
Not long after Pettit's death, Tom Tucker started a camp for financially deprived children
who otherwise would never have a chance to escape the city.
He originally wanted to call it Camp Lehman Brothers and had gone in to meet with
Gregory and Fuld to see if that was okay, since half the camp board was comprised of
Lehman Brothers people. To his immense disappointment and frustration, Fuld and
Gregory told him no.
"I think it would be great publicity for the firm to do this," Tucker argued. "That fell on
deaf ears," he says. He does not know why.
The donations from Gregory added up to around $60,000, which was more than some
former colleagues gave but a lot less than others. Fuld gave $10,000.
Over time, Tucker raised $3 million for the camp from many Lehman employees,
including Steve Lessing and the former head of the Boston office, Bob Cagnina.
Tucker decided to name the camp the Fiver Children's Foundation. The subtext was clear:
He was naming the camp after the runt bunny from Watership Down whose ambitions
were pure and brave--what Chris Pettit once stood for, what they had all once stood for in
a dim and increasingly distant past.
Richard Adams, the author of Watership Down, came with his wife for the camp's
opening, and today, 500 children a year attend the camp in Poolville, New York. It is
considered a huge success. In August 2006, it was featured in a segment narrated by Matt
Lauer on the Today show.
Tucker, being the generous man that he is, never complained again about the lack of
support from Gregory or Fuld--though he was very taken aback three years ago when he
received a call from Nancy Hament, a former Lehman executive who had just had lunch