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Photo courtesy Provincetown Art Association and Museum
“Abstraction — Black and Red, 1990,” oil on canvas, 9 by 12 inches, by Provincetown resident Mary Kass. |
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Wealthy artist’s competency case made public
By Mary Ann Bragg & Kaimi Rose Lum
Banner Staff
PROVINCETOWN — An ailing artist, her wealth and future were flung into the spotlight last week.
The Boston Globe revealed on its front page sealed court proceedings in the guardianship case of resident Mary Kass, a student of Hans Hofmann in the 1950s in Provincetown and an art patron.
As a result of the sudden publicity local police were posted outside Kass’s East End home on Commercial Street, at the request of her lawyer, until valuables could be removed. That coverage lasted for about 10 hours, police said, at a cost of $32 per hour, just after the Globe story broke on Thursday.
Kass’s niece and nephew, both from the Washington, D.C. area, filed a lawsuit late last year in Barnstable against Kass’s primary caretaker, resident Elizabeth “Betty” Villari. The case is labeled a “guardian of mentally ill” probate case, with Kass as the ward under consideration.
The case originated from impressions made on niece Catherine Mason at Kass’s birthday party last summer at her East End home, the Globe reported. Friends who attended that party said this week that Kass seemed happy and alert at the party but with what seemed to be unnecessary constraints placed upon her by her caregivers.
According to the Globe, the plaintiffs alleged that Villari, a personal trainer who co-owns a local gym, and psychotherapist Mary Ellen Henry, also a resident, took advantage of Kass’s diminished mental state to gain control over her and her assets, including the purchase of three waterfront homes. (See the related story on the property sales and purchases on page 25.)
Attorneys for Kass and Villari’s attorneys disputed those allegations, saying Kass doesn’t need a guardian, that she is aware of her decisions, and that Villari and Henry may have saved Kass’s life.
Villari is named as having power of attorney for Kass, the Globe reported, and Henry is named in her health care proxy. None of the women or their lawyers agreed to comment on the case.
Real estate agent David Nicolau, a newly elected Provincetown selectman, was mentioned in the court case as well, according to the Globe, as brokering the property purchases on Kass’s behalf. Nicolau co-owns the fitness gym and property on Shank Painter Road with Villari.
Kass’s niece and nephew said in court documents, though, that Nicolau was not acting in Kass’s best interest in the property purchases. “I’m really not involved in it,” Nicolau said this week of the court case. Nicolau said he was the broker on some of the property transactions but that he didn’t want to comment further.
The trial occurred in the last month in the Boston area and a judge’s decision is expected in the next few weeks.
As of this week, Kass, 75, is confined to a rehabilitation hospital in Boston from an asthma attack that occurred in May. Normally she is wheelchair bound in her East End waterfront home, which she shares with a roommate, according to town records for 2005.
Villari, 62, who coordinates Kass’s personal care, with several personal aides involved, is not listed in the 2005 town census, but reported in 2004 that she lived on Bangs Street, a separate location from Kass’s home. Villari has been a board member of the Soup Kitchen in Provincetown and is a board member of the non-profit Helping Our Women. She is described as having quit her work as a personal trainer to care for Kass, although she and Nicolau still co-own the gym property and are listed as corporate business owners in state records.
Mary Ellen Henry, 56, currently lives in the West End with her partner and has provided psychological care for Kass for many years. Henry has also served clients associated with Helping Our Women and the AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod. In state records, Henry is currently licensed as a social worker, with privileges to see clients. There are no complaints against her, a spokesperson for the state Division of Professional Licensure said. Any questions about Henry’s professional or ethical behavior would be investigated, the spokesperson said, if a complaint were filed.
This week friends and acquaintances recalled that Kass’s wealth has been estimated to be anywhere from $11 million to $60 million, which she inherited from her father’s early real estate development of malls. Her art collection is said to include notable paintings by artists such as Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso. She donated eight paintings to the Provincetown Art Association and Museum in 1996. Kass’s sister, the mother of the plaintiffs in the case, is described as being equally wealthy.
Kass was raised in the D.C. area and as a young woman lived in New York and Provincetown. She married an artist and now is divorced with no children, according to the Globe. Her very close, long-time friend was the now-deceased painter Lillian Orlowsky.
Kass originally hired Villari about four years ago after being introduced to her through a mutual friend. At that time Kass was living in her small house on Priscilla Alden Street and was in need of a limited amount of personal care. Villari was then working as a trainer, with a particular emphasis on helping physically disabled individuals.
According to friends, Kass subsequently fell off her deck, and the fall was a significant physical setback for her. She was hospitalized in a Cape Cod nursing home for several weeks, and she then required more ongoing physical assistance which Villari provided. The size of Kass’s home, though, prevented her from accommodating live-in personal care, which led to the purchase of the first of her waterfront homes. Friends said this week that Kass had long expressed a wish to live on the ocean, and that the purchases make sense in that light.
Kass is known for her generosity and for focusing fondness on specific individuals, including several local artists. At least one person described Mary Ellen Henry as having that type of close relationship with Kass as well. “I know from my own personal experience, and from others, that she has been an incredibly generous person, to individuals and organizations, a life-saver in many regards, with no strings attached, an amazing philanthropist,” a friend, who is an artist, said this week.
Kass can also be excruciatingly sensitive about her wealth, friends said. She didn’t want to share a driveway with a neighbor with a Cadillac, for fear of being associated with a fancy car. She lived for many years on Priscilla Alden Street with her artwork and her cockatiels, losing one temporarily once when it flew off to Barnstable, about 50 miles away, although it was recovered five months later.
“I can’t tell you how eccentric and how unusual she is,” a person familiar with Mary’s home life in the last several years said. “She is a hoot, never worked a day in her life. She would be wonderful, and at times she could be horrid. … [Niece] Cathy always stayed in touch. Mary didn’t want to have them visit. She kept her family at arm’s length. Cathy called frequently. She was always sending a small gift, gourmet foods, nice candy. I would never say that Cathy is in this for the money. She’s wealthy in her own right. I would say that Cathy genuinely has a good relationship with Mary.”
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Jun 16th, 2005