ABC anchor Peter Jennings leaves estate of $53.5 million

ABC News anchor Peter Jennings, who died of lung cancer in August, left an estate valued at more than $50 million, most of which was willed to his fourth wife and to two children from a previous marriage.

Jennings, 67, signed the will on April 21, 16 days after announcing on his “World News Tonight” program that he had been diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. He died Aug. 7 in New York.

His will, filed for probate last week in New York’s Surrogate Court, lists $50 million in personal property and $3.5 million in property in New York.

Besides leaving his widow, producer Kayce Freed, 50% of the “net marital estate,” she also got their Central Park West apartment.

Jennings has appointed trustees to handle the distribution of funds for his children, Elizabeth, 25, and Christopher, 23. Both children were from his third marriage, to author Kati Marton, which ended in divorce in 1994.

He also left assets valued at $1 million to the Peter Jennings Foundation, a charity he founded in 1998 that gives money to fight homelessness, drug addiction, illiteracy and hunger.

Besides stock and real estate, Jennings’ assets included ownership of a race horse, Channel’s Gate, and another horse, named Cabin Fever.