Baruch & Bagatelle: Part 5: 1950-1954

When we left off last week, Herman Baruch had just married his second wife, and she and her children had come to live at Bagatelle.

On September 5, 1951 the New York Times announced that "Mrs. Herman B. Baruch… yesterday renounced her title as a baroness and was sworn in as an American citizen in Brooklyn Federal Court…"  The article also went on to explain that her three children also became American citizens automatically.  At the time her daughter Susan was 17, Johanna was 15, and Peter was 11.  (It is through this article that I was able to find Susan and Peter.)  Herman Baruch and his attorney stood up as their sponsors.  After they took the oath, Herman gave a speech on the importance and responsibilities of American citizenship.

Herman Baruch came from a family who knew what it meant to be good American citizens and who took performing their civic duty very seriously.  On April 9, 1952 the New York Times reported that Herman and his brother Bernard were present at the groundbreaking ceremonies for the Baruch Houses in New York City.  The project was named as such because their father Simon had been instrumental in setting up the city's first public bath on this site in 1901, as was explained by Robert Moses, according to the article.  The area director of the Public Housing Administration praised the housing project, located at Delancey, East Houston, and Columbia streets and the FDR Drive, because it eliminated all segregation and discrimination. 

Comprising 17 buildings, the $31 million project would house 9,500 people at an average of $38.50 a month per apartment.  It was the largest public housing project on the East Side, and city and federal officials wanted to name it after the Baruch family in tribute.  This was due, in part, to the work that Herman and Bernard did in 1934 under Mayor LaGuardia in investigating the state of the city's public baths.

Herman's stepdaughter Susan described Herman and Annamaria's marriage as very happy and said that "my mother made a nice and happy life for him."  This was evident in the photograph published in the Long-Islander on May 1, 1952 on the event of Herman's eightieth birthday at Bagatelle.  Here a laughing Annamaria is pictured cutting Herman's birthday cake as Herman looks at her adoringly. 

The good times continued as Susan, Herman's stepdaughter, was formally introduced to society at the Debutante Cotillion and Christmas Ball at the Waldorf Astoria held on December 22, 1952. 

Sadly, the good times came to an end on March 15, 1953 when Herman Baruch passed away at Bagatelle at the age of 80.  His New York Times obituary reported that "as the result of his services as ambassador, Dr. Baruch received the Grand Cross of the Order of the Netherlands Lion in 1949, and the Grand Cross of the Order of Christus of Portugal in 1950." 

Additionally, he received from City College a Townsend Harris Medal for outstanding post-graduate achievement in October 1952.   It went to explain that after his diplomatic service concluded, he became president of the Dr. Simon Baruch Foundation, a medical research organization. 

On March 19, 1953 the Long-Islander reproduced an article originally published in the New York Herald Tribune regarding Herman's passing.  The article described him as "profoundly interested in philanthropic and social causes." 

The Long-Islander published a report on March 26, 1953 that Herman's will had been filed in probate at the Suffolk County Surrogate Court, with his children Robert and Marina as executors.  It estimated that Herman's estate was worth approximately $2 million.  His widow would receive 25 percent of the estate and property, and his children would equally share the remaining 75 percent.  Additionally, Annamaria would receive "20 percent of annual profits from Bagatelle Nursery Farm… as well as personal effects, jewelry and furniture as was in his possession after December 21,1935.  He stated that his executors could, if they wished, dispose of any assets in the estate except shares of the Texas Gulf Sulphur Co. and the Dannon Milk Products Co."  These were the terms that Annamaria had agreed to her prenuptial agreement.

On May 14, 1953 the Long- Islander reported that "Mr. And Mrs. Robert Baruch were at Bagatelle over the weekend with his sister Mrs. William Symmers and Mts. Herman Baruch and children."  It appeared that the family would remain close even after Herman passed away.

A lawsuit followed, however, because Annamaria asserted that Herman had written a second will that set aside the prenuptial agreement.  Susan, Herman's stepdaughter, recollected that his new will included her and her siblings and that Herman specifically made a point to explain to she and her sister that "Peter got more because he was a boy." 

Her future husband, Thomas, testified at the trial in Riverhead that he had served as a witness to the second will.  Susan remembered heading to Riverhead everyday with her mother during the long and lengthy trial.  On August 5, 1954 the New York Times announced that "the widow of Dr. Herman Baruch… lost today at court, which would have given her a larger share of his estate." 

According to Peter, Herman's stepson, he, his mother and siblings moved to a rented house in Port Washington during the trial.  After the trial, Susan explained that they lost touch with Robert and Marina.  And in 1954, Anna moved her children to Majorca, Spain where she met Rolf Robert, whom she would later marry.  They stayed in Spain for four years, before coming back to the United States permanently in 1958.

Bagatelle now belonged to Herman's children.  Come back next week to see what happens next in the final chapter.