(Monterey County Weekly) - On a single piece of paper, Michael Nesmith, the former Monkee, entrepreneur and music video visionary, wrote his last will and testament by hand on July 8, 2014. “I hereby leave all my possessions, all rights, to the Gihon Foundation… By my hand this day, Robert Michael Nesmith.”
Nesmith died on Dec. 10, 2021, in his Carmel Valley home, and on Dec. 17, the woman who worked as his business manager, accountant and bookkeeper for nearly a decade, Cynthia Erin Davis, filed a declaration in Monterey County Superior Court asking to be appointed as a special administrator to protect Nesmith’s assets. A hearing is set for March 23.
Davis’ Monterey attorney, Yvonne Ascher, says there’s always a chance Nesmith’s four children could object. His oldest, Christian Nesmith, is listed as the vice president of the Gihon Foundation board on the organization’s Form 990, forms filed by nonprofits with the Internal Revenue Service in lieu of tax returns. His two brothers and a sister are listed as trustees.
If they do not, then what’s left of the estimated $3.6 million estate after probate would go to the foundation, founded by his mother Bette Graham in 1977. Graham was a Texas businesswoman and artist who invented Liquid Paper as a secretary in 1954. She built the company up until it was sold to the Gillette company in 1979 for $47.5 million. She died a few months later at the age of 56.
Graham was a devout Christian Scientist who chose the biblical name Gihon, a river in the Book of Genesis, for the foundation. According to Gihon’s website, its purpose is the implementation of “inspired, productive ideas’’ and supporting performing arts. In 2019 the foundation reported assets of $3.3 million. Most of Gihon’s efforts have been focused on maintaining Graham’s art collection composed of female artists including Georgia O’Keeffe, as well as maintaining Nesmith’s online virtual world of live performances by musicians and bands called Videoranch 3D – a cutting-edge creation of Nesmith’s from 1998.
For now, the estate is in the hands of the probate court, where the government will excise a portion in taxes before what’s left is distributed. Had Nesmith created a formal will and trust, much more of the estate would have been preserved. “It’s a reminder that everyone should have their affairs in order no matter their age or wealth,” Ascher says.
By Pam Marino
Feb 24, 2022
