Harriman Left Bulk of Estate to His Widow

Pamela C. Harriman, the widow of former New York governor and longtime statesman W. Averell Harriman, received the bulk of her husband’s estate, court records show.

Harriman bequeathed all of his real estate--including Willow Oaks, a 60-acre estate in Virginia’s hunt country near here, and homes in Yorktown Heights, N.Y., the Georgetown section of Washington and Sun Valley, Ida.--to his widow.

Harriman, the son of the founder of the Union Pacific Railroad and a former ambassador to the Soviet Union, died July 26 at age 94.

His will, which did not disclose the value of the estate, named his wife as executor. The document was entered Aug. 8 in Loudoun County Court here.

Harriman left $100,000 to each of his six grandchildren but did not provide for his daughters, Kathleen Lanier Harriman Mortimer and Mary Averell Harriman Fisk, explaining: “I know them to be otherwise well provided for.”

The will, written on Sept. 12, 1984, and revised on Aug. 7, 1985, directs the formation of a $6-million trust. Mrs. Harriman is to receive interest from the trust, which eventually will be liquidated and distributed among Harriman’s grandchildren.

Harriman’s personal fortune has been estimated at between $50 million and $100 million.