Court Backs Rauschenberg Trustees in Fight With Foundation

A Florida judge has awarded $24.6-million to the three trustees Robert Rauschenberg appointed to administer his estate, rejecting claims by the late artist’s charitable foundation that they were seeking wildly inflated remuneration for their work, reports The New York Times.

In a decision Friday, Chief Judge Jay B. Rosman of the 20th Judicial Circuit said Bill Goldston, Bennet Grutman, and Darryl Pottorf, longtime friends and business associates of the painter, had done “an exemplary job” managing his home and land in Florida and other assets. Mr. Rauschenberg’s holdings, worth $605.6-million at his death in 2008, were valued at about $2.2-billion when they were disbursed to the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation four years later, according to the ruling.

The trustees had sought $60-million in fees, prompting a legal challenge by the foundation, which set a value of $375,000 on their work. The charity is led by Christopher Rauschenberg, the artist’s son, who said the organization is “currently evaluating the court’s ruling and our legal options.”