Kathy Pinna
An Extract from The Washington Post November 2, 1980
Rita Lachman, once married to the man who was the "L" in Revlon, has gone into partnership with a New York advertising executive to create a shop-by-mail concept for the woman who is so elegant that the phenomenally successful Horschow's looks like Sears Roebuck to her.
Lachman was the third wife of the late cosmetics czar Charles R. Lachman. Lachman's 21-year-old daughter, Charlene, is attempting to overturn her late father's will.
Lachman, who died in 1978 at the age of 81, changed his will on his deathbed to leave the bulk of his $30 million estate to his fourth wife, 38-year-old Jaquine de Rochambeau who had been Rita Lachman's secretary.
The legal challenge, now pending in the Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court in New York, has been joined by both the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Lenox Hill Hospital.
The Met was supposed to get Charles Lachman's collection of impressionist paintings, including works by Renoir and Degas and a very important Monet. The hospital had expected to get a $4 million bequest under a previous will.
Rita Lachman, who has no legal standing in the dispute over inheritance, is nevertheless following it with intense interest. She is taking notes for a proposed book that could be a best-seller.
Lachman was the third wife of the late cosmetics czar Charles R. Lachman. Lachman's 21-year-old daughter, Charlene, is attempting to overturn her late father's will.
Lachman, who died in 1978 at the age of 81, changed his will on his deathbed to leave the bulk of his $30 million estate to his fourth wife, 38-year-old Jaquine de Rochambeau who had been Rita Lachman's secretary.
The legal challenge, now pending in the Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court in New York, has been joined by both the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Lenox Hill Hospital.
The Met was supposed to get Charles Lachman's collection of impressionist paintings, including works by Renoir and Degas and a very important Monet. The hospital had expected to get a $4 million bequest under a previous will.
Rita Lachman, who has no legal standing in the dispute over inheritance, is nevertheless following it with intense interest. She is taking notes for a proposed book that could be a best-seller.
