Late Joan Rivers’ Will Designates Daughter Melissa as Estate Executor

Late comedian Joan Rivers upheld her reputation for being charitable. In her will, she nominated her estimated $150 million fortune to her family, staff, friends, and multiple Charities. Various charitable organizations would benefit from Joan’s fortune: Guide Dogs for the Blind, God’s Love We Deliver, the Jewish Guild for the Blind, Jewish Home and Hospital Foundation, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles.

Melissa Rivers, the “Fashion Police” star’s daughter, was named as an executor of the estate and would receive “all tangible personal property” of her mother. Other beneficiaries include the entertainer’s grandson Cooper, the children of Rivers’ late sister, Barbara Waxler, niece Caroline Waxler and nephew Andrew Waxler, and members of her staff.

Rivers earned $250,000 for her charity “God’s Love We Deliver” as the winner of “Celebrity Apprentice” in 2009. Her 2010 documentary, “A Piece of Work,” depicts how Rivers and her grandson Cooper spent Thanksgiving morning delivering food to the needy on behalf of the food pantry, a tradition she said followed every year. The charity renamed the bakery in its Soho building as “The Joan Rivers Bakery”, in memory of the late performer.

The 81-year old “Fashion Police” star died in September after a botched medical procedure on her vocal cords. The star suffered a cardiac arrest during the nonsurgical procedure at the Yorkville Endoscopy clinic. The will paves way for Melissa Rivers to proceed with her plans for filing a wrongful death suit against Yorkville Endoscopy Clinic. Rumor mills were abuzz that a physician performed an unauthorized biopsy at the clinic, causing Joan’s vocal cords to swell and cut off the air supply.

Joan Rivers was a pioneering female stand-up comedian, writer, and producer and TV host. Her style of satirical humor was praised as well as criticized as truthful, yet too gossipy and personal, and many times even acerbic.