Onassis Leaves Most of Estate to Her Children

NEW YORK —  Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis left the bulk of her estate to her two children, and in a move to guard her privacy even after death instructed them to keep her personal papers from ever becoming public.

In a 36-page will released Wednesday, Mrs. Onassis named longtime companion and millionaire financier Maurice Tempelsman as executor of the estate.

The document filed in Probate Court in Manhattan reflected the former First Lady’s strong desire for privacy, directing that her children John F. Kennedy Jr. and Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg be given her personal papers. But she said they must “take whatever action warranted to prevent the display, publication or distribution in whole or in part of these papers, letters and writings.”

Mrs. Onassis, 64, died May 19 of lymphatic cancer. She was buried at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington next to her slain husband, President John F. Kennedy.

The value of the estate was not disclosed. Mrs. Onassis received $26 million from her second husband, Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis.

She left nothing to her sister, Lee Radziwill Ross. But her sister’s son and daughter will share the income from a $1-million trust fund for the next 10 years.

Tempelsman, a diamond investor, was left only a statue, described as “my Greek alabaster head of a woman.”

The 15-room apartment they shared on 5th Avenue will become the property of the children, who will also each receive $250,000 in cash and the principal from a trust fund established by their father. They were also left the contents of the apartment and two pieces of property in Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts.