L.A. accepts mysterious bequest

Residents of Los Angeles received an unusual gift Tuesday when the City Council voted to accept $442,173.77 from a man who died 16 years ago and left his money to the city, apparently to spurn his siblings.

Little is known about Theodore DiFiore, who died Nov. 17, 1990, at age 79 while living in a modest downtown apartment. But the money that he left -- and that can now be used for anything the city desires -- appears to be one of the largest bequests to Los Angeles in recent years.

According to DiFiore’s handwritten will from 1976, which was updated several times before his death, each of his five siblings was to receive $1, said Robert Pasquinelli, a San Jose attorney handling the matter.

“I think he was just a ornery guy ... and why he chose the city of Los Angeles, I don’t have any idea,” Pasquinelli said. “It was an interesting probate in that for years the city didn’t know what to do with this.”

Pasquinelli didn’t know DiFiore. Pasquinelli’s father was hired by one of DiFiore’s sisters to fight the bequest to the city and Pasquinelli inherited the case when his father died in 1998. The sister, through him, declined an interview request.

The will sheds no light on why DiFiore wanted the city to have his money, saying only: “And I wish to give the rest of my real and personal property after the payments of my debts and expenses by my executor to the city of Los Angeles.”

As it turned out, DiFiore’s assets mostly consisted of an old gas station and auto repair shop in the San Jose area. The site was polluted and took years to clean up for sale -- the reason the city is only now getting the money.

Pasquinelli, in fact, spent months phoning different people in the city trying to find someone who knew how to handle the bequest. He finally reached Avak Keotahian, a legislative analyst for the council.

“I’m thinking this lawyer is calling around trying to give us money, and he’s getting bounced around,” said Keotahian, who added he wasn’t surprised that the city bureaucracy was slow to respond, even to someone who wanted to give it money.

He, too, was intrigued by DiFiore and did some research but came up empty. Keotahian learned that DiFiore was not a city employee and that his ancestors might have been among the pioneers of the San Jose area.

Nor does DiFiore’s former residence reveal anything about his intent. The old four-story brick apartment building sits next to a parking garage on Hope Street, a couple of blocks from the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Bequests to the city are, not surprisingly, uncommon and usually are directed to specific purposes. Last year, for example, the city accepted a $4-million bequest from the philanthropist Anna Bing, with instructions that the money be used to purchase parkland.

The city accepted $275,868 from Anna May Pollard in 1991 for renovation of an animal shelter and $34,000 from Peter Edward Raacke in 1996 for the city’s animal sterilization trust fund.

DiFiore’s gift wasn’t specifically discussed in Tuesday’s council meeting, but was lumped in with other items being voted upon together. The council and the mayor will get to decide how it’s spent.

*

steve.hymon@latimes.com