Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
27 July 27 2006
By Dennis B. Roddy,
John E. Connelly, the high-rolling founder of the Gateway Clipper Fleet, who once sought to bring casino gambling to Pittsburgh, is fighting a judge's ruling he is mentally incapacitated -- a struggle on which could pivot control of an entertainment empire.
Steve Mellon, Post-Gazette - John Connelly with his adoptive daughter, Audree Wirginis, in 1999.
The battle pits Mr. Connelly, 81, against his adoptive daughter, Audree Wirginis, and her son, Terrence Wirginis, 54, who in April displaced Mr. Connelly as chairman of President Casinos Inc., a St. Louis-based riverboat gambling company.
The company's filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission noted that the company's board of directors changed its bylaws to state that, effective immediately:
"A director shall not be qualified to serve as a director of the Corporation upon attaining his or her eightieth birthday or being adjudged as an incapacitated person or incompetent by a court of competent jurisdiction."
Mr. Connelly's fitness was the subject of a yearlong court case -- kept under seal at his attorney's request -- before Orphans' Court Judge Robert Kelly. The documents became available after Mr. Connelly decided to fight an earlier settlement that handed control of many of his affairs to the Wirginises.
A frail-sounding Mr. Connelly, reached last night at his suburban Pittsburgh home, declined to comment on the dispute.
Judge Kelly declared Mr. Connelly incapacitated on March 27. According to the judge, Mr. Connelly has a condition which "totally impairs his capacity to receive and evaluate information effectively, and to make and communicate decisions concerning the management of financial affairs or to meet essential requirements for his physical health and safety."
In an appeal to the judge's ruling, Mr. Connelly insists that he possesses a "robust" ability to handle his affairs and accuses Terrence Wirginis of diverting more than $3.5 million of the sales price of property owned by Mr. Connelly's company, J. Edward Connelly and Associates.
The Wirginises, Mr. Connelly's filing asserts, "have persisted in ongoing and systematic attempts to isolate Respondent from friends and other who remain loyal to Respondent ... ."
Jay Fingeret, a lawyer for the Wirginis family, said last night that Judge Kelly had rejected all of Mr. Connelly's assertions from the appeal.
"Mr. Connelly is a great man, he's done wonderful things. This was a private matter, a family matter we had hoped would not be made public," Mr. Fingeret said.
The case began last year with a petition by Mrs. Wirginis asking to serve as guardian for Mr. Connelly, who she said was showing signs of both mental and financial insolvency.
"For the past several years the alleged incapacitated has suffered from impaired judgment and dementia," her petition reads. "These conditions have affected him to the extent that he is unable to manage his financial resources. At this particular time the petitioner believes the alleged incapacitated is destitute."
Mrs. Wirginis said Mr. Connelly owed her more than $900,000, and owed others more than $2 million.
"In the immediate future the alleged incapacitated is supposed to be receiving payment of monies owing and due him in excess of $8 million," her petition continues.
The dispute over Mr. Connelly's status appears to have fractured his relationship with Mrs. Wirginis, who worked alongside him for nearly 50 years, and ended with his split from his own longtime lawyer, Henry Gusky.
Mr. Gusky last night would only praise Mr. Connelly as a visionary who helped develop Pittsburgh's once polluted riverfronts, and who made millions with marketing promotions.
"John Connelly has done a lot of wonderful things for this community and he should be remembered for what he has done for the community," Mr. Gusky said.
He disputed Mr. Connelly's assertion that he is essentially held prisoner in his own home.
"I visit him. He is free to leave the house anytime he wants to," Mr. Gusky said. "He is not being held a prisoner."
Mr. Connelly made his name in cities beyond Pittsburgh, developing the Chelsea Piers in Manhattan, a hotel at the Vatican, and riverfront developments in Davenport, Iowa, and Biloxi, Miss.
One longtime associate of Mr. Connelly, Joseph V. Luvara, who represented him briefly in the case, insisted his old friend is predominantly sound.
"I have known Mr. Connelly since 1967. When I met Mr. Connelly he was 40 years old. He is now 81 years of age. I hope that I have the ability to articulate myself as well as he does. I hope his remaining years on this Earth are filled with all the joy that he supplied to me in the 40 years I've known him."
(Dennis B. Roddy can be reached at droddy@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1965. )