A contender for most spiteful father of 2012 has emerged and his name, according to the New York Post, is the late Frank Mandelbaum, whose death in 2007 has not prevented him from trying to shame his gay son from beyond the grave. Mandelbaum's will stipulated that his son Robert's future progeny would not receive any of the old patriarch's money should Robert "not be married to the child's mother within six months of the child's birth."


Robert Mandelbaum, a Manhattan Criminal Court Judge, married his longtime partner Jonathan O'Donnell just after the birth via surrogate of their 16-month-old son, who, according to the terms of his grandfather's will, does not have a stake in the $180,000 trust set aside for the Mandelbaum grandkids. Robert is hoping the Manhattan Surrogate's Court will approve a settlement that dismisses Frank Mandelbaum's demand as discriminatory and against New York law, since it requires Robert Mandelbaum "to enter into a sham marriage," and therefore violates a state law aimed at promoting marriage equality.

Though Frank Mandelbaum sounds a little bit like Cornelius Hawthorne minus the ivory wig, there's some evidence that the stipulation for Robert to marry the mother of his child came as a little bit of a shock. According to court papers filed by Robert, his parents both knew he was gay, since he and O'Donnell attended family dinners and went on family excursions with very little eyebrow raising.


Manhattan businessman's will ordered gay son to marry woman who gave birth to his child [NY Post]