The Duke Family is another very wealthy American family, listing on the top 60 most wealthy families in United States history. But this family is far from perfect. The earliest traceable ancestor is Washington Duke, whom the university in North Carolina is named after. (There is a statue of him on the East campus.) He was married twice in only sixteen years and had two sons: Benjamin Newton Duke; and James Buchanan Duke. While James proved to be a worthy son by continuing his father's legacy as a philanthropist in the tobacco industry; Benjamin seemed to sit back and let his brother take control of their industry. While his name was on the American Tobacco Company, his brother clearly was the ambitious one in the family. They created a monopoly over the cigarette industry. In 1924, James established the Duke endowment, a $40 million trust fund. When James died he left $100 billion dollars to his twelve year old daughter Doris. This obviously was a ridiculous decision on James' part. Doris wasted thousands of dollars on lavish vacations around the world. She wrote for the magazine "Harper's Bizarre." In 1966 Doris was responsible for crushing a man with her car, and killing him. She wasted money on well over eight lavish homes. Doris was rumored to have multiple relationships, and was married twice. At the age of seventy-nine Doris decided to have a face-lift. (not that it could really do much at that age) She died a year later of a heart attack. While alive, Doris gave birth to one child, Arden Cromwell, who died soon after birth. Doris believed that Chandi Heffner was the reincarnated version of her son, so she adopted the young lady. The women had many disagreements which led to Doris deciding that she wished that Chandi did not receive a dime of her families money. The above picture is Doris with Chandi.
