Robert Ellsworth: Art collector leaves $50,000 tip in his will for two waitresses he knew only as 'Maureen'

Collector often ate twice a day at the New York restaurant

Robert Ellsworth was a celebrated collector of Asian art (Christie's)

Art collector Robert Ellsworth was a regular at Donohue’s Steak House for years.

At lunchtime, he showed up for toasted cheese sandwiches with bacon, and in the evening he returned with friends for a sirloin steak.

And while the 85-year-old specialist did not know the family names of his two favourite waitresses – an aunt and niece, both called Maureen – he took the effort to ensure they were remembered when he passed away.

A report in the New York Post revealed that Mr Ellsworth had left the two women $50,000 each in his will, referring to them in the document as “Maureen at Donohue’s” and “Maureen-at-Donohue’s Niece Maureen”.

“I was shocked,’’ Maureen Donohue-Peters, 53, who was given the tip with niece Maureen Barrie, 28, told the newspaper. “I just couldn’t believe it. I didn’t expect anything.”

Ms Donohue-Peters said that Mr Ellsworth, worth an estimated $200m when he died in August 2014, had been a regular at the steakhouse for decades.

“Out of eight meals, he ate seven here. We were his dining room,” she added. His meals would be be accompanied by a shot of Jim Beam bourbon.

“He would always tip 20 per cent. He never even looked at the bill and just told servers to tack it on," said worker Juan Carlos Padiloa.

Mr Ellsworth, who at one time was said to be the world’s wealthiest collector of Asian art, never graduated from high school but was nicknamed “King of Ming” as a result of his expertise in Ming dynasty furniture.

Some his fortune is going to his live-in chef and friend of more than 40 years, Masahiro Hashiguchi.

Mr Hashiguchi was left $10m, in addition to jewellery, furniture, real estate, crystal and a dog.

The rest will be divided among Mr Ellsworth’s siblings, nieces, nephews and godchildren, as well as household staff and friends, who were each given $100,000.

Some of his artefacts are bound for museums and universities, including the Met, New York University, Harvard and Yale.

Mr Ellsworth died on August 2014, reportedly as the result of a fall.