Without Heirs, Larry Gagosian Finally Plans for Succession
In the year since he died last winter, Larry Gagosian has been working on his plans to leave his vast holdings to his heirs.
In the year since he died last winter, the legendary owner of the Gagosian Gallery has been laying the groundwork for his ultimate disposition of his massive business portfolio, which includes his namesake gallery, a Beverly Hills shopping mall of his own, and more than 20 galleries in New York.
For Mr. Gagosian, who made his fortune in commercial photography and was at one time the first self-made man of his generation, the plan’s ultimate fruition is important for two reasons.
In the year since he died last winter, the legendary owner of the Gagosian Gallery has been working on his plans to leave his vast holdings to his heirs.
To that end, he is building a trust to oversee his art and is seeking a high-power buyer to take control of the company’s assets. And he is looking to the same people he recruited for him three years ago to help him complete his succession plans.
“Today’s buyers don’t care about history,” Mr. Gagosian said in an interview Monday. “They want to do something now.”
In the year since he died last January from complications caused by colon cancer, the man dubbed the “King of the Photo Dealers” was working hard to build his own gallery and a series of museums that would house his iconic photographic collection.
On the surface, he was determined to leave his children and partner, Annabelle Sellito, and the Gagosian Gallery to continue his legacy as he saw himself.
But it was the ultimate goal of preserving his collection of more than 6 million negatives, prints, slides and archives that most thrilled him.
“He wanted to keep his gallery for as long as he possibly could,” said Thomas H. Lee II, a partner and board member at the Gagosian Gallery.
While the plan is to leave the Gagosian Gallery to his heirs, Mr. Gagosian is not ready to make a definitive announcement yet about the ownership of
