ABSTRACT
S ir harold acton died on Sunday 27 February 1994 in the magnificent Florentine villa in which he was born almost 90 years earlier. The Villa La Pietra, its priceless contents and its exquisite gardens, created by Harold's father at the beginning of this century, will go neither to his old college of Christ Church nor to Oxford University as Sir Harold originally hoped, as neither institution had the imagination to accept his offer. Instead, maintained in perpetuity by an endowment of 25 million dollars, the entire estate has gone to New York University. Complete with five villas on the periphery of the 57-acre estate, as well as property in Florence, estimated to be worth up to 500 million dollars, the bequest is said to be the largest ever received by an American university.
