Gardiner's Island Again in Hands Of One Owner, Robert Gardiner's death leaves niece in control

With the death on Monday of Robert David Lion Gardiner, the 3,347-acre island that he tried so hard to keep from his niece, Alexandra Creel Goelet, and later shared with her only grudgingly, claiming that she would develop it when he was dead, will now belong to her family.

Mrs. Goelet and her husband, Robert Goelet, have two children, Robert III, 25, and Alix, 27.

Mr. Gardiner made many attempts to avoid such an eventuality. Over the years, he tried to buy Gardiner's Island for a fraction of its worth, attempted to sell it to the state, sought to adopt an heir, and tried to force the trust that oversaw the island to sell it.

"It was Mr. Gardiner's hope, and my hope, that the island would remain pristine and undeveloped," his friend and attorney, Joseph Anttonito of Smithtown, said on Monday.

On Tuesday, Mrs. Goelet and her husband offered their sympathies at the passing of Mr. Gardiner and confirmed their desire to hold onto the island.

"The Goelets have a clear and simple vision for the island, one that accords with the wishes of Sarah D. Gardiner and continues the respectful Gardiner family stewardship," they said in a statement issued by a spokesman, Lloyd Kaplan. "They wish to continue to utilize the island as a family home for generations to come."

While Mr. Gardiner called the island his own, it had never truly belonged to him. In fact, he had only a lifetime interest in it. His aunt, Sarah Diodati Gardiner, acquired Gardiner's Island in 1937, when she came to the financial rescue of another Gardiner, who had mortgaged the island and was in danger of losing it.

In her will, Miss Gardiner, who had no children of her own, left the island in trust for Mr. Gardiner and his sister, Alexandra Creel. When they died, it was to pass outright to their children and the trust was to be dissolved. If neither had children, it would go to Yale University.

Miss Gardiner's greatest wish was that the island remain in the family. She directed that the trust "not exercise your right to sell this island unless you are fully satisfied that neither my nephew nor my niece, nor any of their descendants, will be in a position to use the island as a home."

If such a sale became necessary, Miss Gardiner asked that it go to a member of the Gardiner family, even if that meant taking a lower price than "an outsider" would pay.

"It is my particular wish that the island should not be sold to any individual or organization for the purpose of converting the same into a club or real estate development," Miss Gardiner said in her will. She believed the trust would be sufficient to cover the upkeep of the island for many years to come.

But with inflation, the cost of maintaining the island eventually grew too great for the trust. The trustee, United States Trust Company, was forced to invade the principal of the fund to cover costs, and, by 1977, the maintenance fund Miss Gardiner had set up was, according to court papers, "severely depleted."

By that time, Mrs. Creel's daughter had bought out most of her brother's interest in the island and was visiting often with her husband, Robert Goelet. Mrs. Goelet had made the island's ecology her specialty while earning a degree at the Yale School of Forestry. Mr. Goelet, who comes from a wealthy New York family, was then president of the New York Historical Society and the New York Zoological Society.

For a few years, a court order barred Mr. Gardiner and his niece from being on the island at the same time, and they visited there in alternating two-week intervals. By all accounts, Mr. Gardiner hated the arrangement and resented the Goelets' presence on the island.

"I think he thought he was king and that's not how it was," said Mary Gardiner of East Hampton, a cousin. "Robert claimed to be the 16th lord of the manor. You can't claim a title."

Mr. Gardiner offered to buy Gardiner's Island from Mrs. Creel for a reported $400,000. She declined.

In 1977, U.S. Trust asked the Surrogate's Court to determine if it could borrow money, lease or sell the island, or pay only certain maintenance costs. The court ruled in 1980 that the two branches of the family were to pay equally for the island's upkeep. If one or the other side were unable or unwilling to do so, it would lose use of the island. If neither branch paid, the trust would be terminated.

Mr. Gardiner appealed the ruling and asked that the island be sold, with half the proceeds going to him. The court turned him down.

Throughout the 1980s, the Goelets paid for the island's upkeep and took no money from the trust. Mr. Gardiner refused to pay his share of the annual expenses and, in accordance with the court ruling, relinquished his rights to the island.

Mr. Gardiner said at the time that he was able to pay his share, but wanted instead to force the sale of the island so that he could buy it.

But in 1989, the 350th anniversary of King Charles I's grant of the island to Lion Gardiner, Mr. Gardiner paid his portion and was able to revisit the island. He said he would adopt an heir by the end of that summer, a move the Goelets opposed. He had even picked his man - a distant cousin, George Gardiner Green Jr. of Laurel, Miss. Mr. Green, who was married with two children and whose parents were still living, eventually turned down Mr. Gardiner's offer. (Mr. Green died in 1996.)

Mrs. Goelet's attorney at the time, Arthur Field, accused Mr. Gardiner of "shopping for an heir" to spite his niece and cut off her interest in the island. "Mr. Gardiner is unable to take the island in death; he has adopted a 'scorched earth' policy for those who come after him," Mr. Field wrote.

At one point that year, it was reported that Mr. Gardiner had also asked New York State to buy the island for $150,000.

When his sister, Mrs. Creel, died in 1990, Mr. Gardiner brought a petition claiming that as the surviving life tenant he had exclusive rights to Gardiner's Island. He charged that Mr. Goelet "through complex financial manipulations had usurped control of Gardiner's Island from the intended beneficiaries," according to July 1992 court papers. Mr. Gardiner had long claimed that the Goelets would develop the island when he died.

He asked that the island be sold and the proceeds distributed according to the terms of the trust. U.S. Trust and the Goelets opposed the move. The Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court denied his petition, noting that Miss Gardiner's will stipulated the sale of the island would be permitted only if, during the "joint lives" of her niece and nephew, "they should advise my trustee in writing that neither they nor any members of their respective families desire to occupy Gardiner's Island."

Although Mr. Gardiner lost some court battles in 1992, he won others. A court determined that the 1980 decision that made enjoyment of the island contingent upon payment of maintenance costs was wrong. It ruled that neither Mr. Gardiner nor his niece was responsible for those costs. Both sides announced that they would contribute no more.

Mr. Gardiner was able to return to the island, but the feud was far from over. By the end of the year, a Manhattan Surrogate's Court judge told Mr. Gardiner and his niece that if they could not settle their differences over maintenance and use of the island, she would order its sale. The Goelets once again assumed the full burden of maintenance.

(Those costs are reported to be more than $2 million a year. East Hampton Town property taxes alone accounted for $198,778 in 2003-4.)

In 1993, the island was changed from one to five-acre zoning at Mr. Gardiner's suggestion. Mary Ella Reutershan, who came to know Mr. Gardiner in the 1960s, said that, in the interest of preservation, she "worked for 20 years to get him to agree to five-acre zoning."

The Goelets agreed to support the upzoning, despite their concerns that it would devalue the property.

When United States Representative Otis G. Pike had proposed in the 1970s that the island be made part of a national monument, Mr. Gardiner was so violently opposed to the notion that he ran against Mr. Pike. Eventually, Ms. Reutershan said, he came to support such a plan.

Mr. Gardiner and the Goelets continued to share the island through the 1990s and early 2000s, despite their acrimonious feelings. Both sides of the family hosted tours of the island: The Goelets invited Springs School students every year, and Mr. Gardiner invited historians, politicians, and naturalists.

"He was a very generous man," said Larry Penny, East Hampton Town's director of natural resources, who visited Gardiner's Island many times in the 1990s. "He wanted to see the island in some kind of quasi-public trust in perpetuity. He didn't think it could take a lot of active stuff on it."

Despite Mr. Gardiner's misgivings, the Goelets seem to feel similarly and local officials are not worried about the immediate fate of the island.

"We are always concerned about what will happen to Gardiner's Island, but the Goelets have said they plan to keep the status quo," said East Hampton Town Supervisor Bill McGintee.

"We can never allow the island to be developed. It must remain in its natural state forever," said County Legislator Jay Schneiderman, a former town supervisor. He feels confident, however, that the Goelets will be "good stewards of the island. They're dedicated conservationists."