A 101-year-old widow is embroiled in a legal battle with the Rotary Foundation Canada over whether charities can benefit from her late husband’s $28.5 million estate.
Mary McEachern says the foundation has blocked her efforts to fulfill her husband’s deathbed request to share his fortune with various charities, not just Rotary.
Mary accused charity bosses of being ‘greedy’, but the group says she has financial responsibilities and is bound by her husband Steve McEachern’s official will.
“If Steve could see what is happening now, he would be devastated,” Mary from Edmonton, Alberta told DailyMail.com.
“He trusted that his wishes would be honored, and he would never want this kind of fight.”
Steve amassed his fortune, approximately CAD$40 million, during his 65-year investing career. The lifelong philanthropist served with several community groups and charities, including Rotary.
In his 2019 will, he named The Rotary Foundation Canada as the sole beneficiary of the estate, minus money for Mary’s living expenses. The couple had no children.
The foundation is a corporation and registered charity in Canada that provides global relief, typically disaster relief, and clean water and vaccine programs in poor countries.
Mary McEachern, 101, is embroiled in a legal battle with Rotary Foundation officials over her husband’s estate.
Mary and Steve McEachern were married for 75 years until Steve died in 2020 during the pandemic.
Steve died in September 2020 at the age of 98 – but not before he changed his mind and left everything to Rotary.
That was during COVID-19, and Steve wanted to help the Canadian charities he had seen struggling during the pandemic, Mary, his wife of 75 years, said in an affidavit.
“One afternoon, before he passed away, he looked at me and said, ‘I don’t want to give money to Rotary anymore. I have given them enough, and there are so many people in our own part of the world who need help,” Mary said.
“That was Steve. He believed in giving where it mattered most.”
But Steve’s health deteriorated and he died before he could rewrite his will, the widow says.
Mary and her family have one website to put pressure on Rotary to allow her to donate Steve’s belongings to a total of 17 charities.
They include Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service, the Edmonton Humane Society, the Mustard Seed, the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute and the University of Alberta.
“All I have ever wanted is to make sure his legacy is carried out the way he wanted – by helping the people and animals he cared about so much,” Mary said.
Rotary was offered $14 million and then $9 million in settlements at different times, but officials did not respond, the family says.
Four years after Steve’s death, his estate remains untouched, mired in legal red tape.
Mary is co-executor of the estate, but she needs a court order to change the beneficiaries.
Rotary is “intentionally” initiating the legal process “in the hope that Mary will succeed before her case is heard,” the website says.
This month the family launched a publicity campaign to put pressure on Rotary as the legal proceedings continued.
Steve and Mary had no children, but Mary’s wider family is helping her in the legal dispute.
Mary worked as a nurse during her marriage to Steve, but also helped him with paperwork for his business.
The Rotary Foundation Canada is involved in global relief work, typically disaster relief, and clean water and vaccine programs in poor countries.
Mary says the Rotary club is delaying her lawsuits in the hope that she will die and they can claim the entire $28.5 million estate.
Mary says she just wants her late husband’s dying wishes to be ‘honoured’ by the charity
“This is money that Steve and I have worked and saved for our entire lives together,” says Mary, who worked as a nurse throughout the marriage but also helped build the business.
‘It’s not just about money, it’s about doing the right thing. Steve wanted this money to go to charities close to home, where it could make a real difference to people and animals in need.”
Rotary officials say they only became aware of Steve’s donation in 2022 after legal proceedings began.
The group says it wants to settle the dispute at the Court of King’s Bench, but they are obliged to respect Steve’s will and must resolve a number of financial issues before they can reach a deal.
Dean Rohrs, a former chairman of the charity, said officials were “open to negotiations” but the case was “murky, muddy and complex” because of taxes and other elements of the estate.
Steve’s “will was written just nine and a half months before his death,” Rohrs told DailyMail.com.
“We, as Rotary Foundation Canada, have a fiduciary duty to the 27,000 Canadian Rotarians who would have access to the funds from his donation. We need to be sure this is his intention.”
Rohrs also complained about the family’s media campaign, which has sparked backlash and left members facing a barrage of angry emails.
Still, Trish Young, Mary’s niece, said Rotary officials have only themselves to blame.
They have undermined the charitable efforts of their many “good, hard-working members” in Canada and abroad, she says, driven by “pure greed” and the “pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.”