Story highlights New York art dealer leaves big tip for waitress and her niece in his will

"He was more than a customer. He was a dear friend of mine," Maureen Donohue-Peters says

New York (CNN) The service must have been pretty good.

A waitress at a steakhouse in New York City was shocked to learn that one of her favorite customers had left her a hefty tip in his will -- $50,000.

"I did not see it coming," Maureen Donohue-Peters said Tuesday. "Shocked when I got the call."

The gift came from Robert Ellsworth, a prominent art dealer and ultimate regular at Donohue's, a steakhouse on Manhattan's Upper East Side.

Workers at the restaurant say he was there nearly every day, twice a day, for more than 50 years.

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