The death on Wednesday, March 25, of Betsy Cushing Whitney at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset at the age of 89 marks the end of an era. It also raises many questions in the minds of local residents as to what will become of her estate, Greentree in Manhasset.

Mrs. Whitney was the widow of Jock Whitney, heir to one of America's most distinguished names and greatest fortunes, who died in 1982. In 1990 Forbes magazine estimated her wealth at $700 million. Mrs. Whitney was born Betsy Cushing, the daughter of Dr. Harvey Cushing, a famous neurosurgeon, and Katherine Crowell Cushing, a member of a socially prominent Cleveland family. Her first marriage was in 1930 to James Roosevelt, eldest son of Eleanor and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. At the time of the wedding the elder Roosevelt was governor of New York. After he was elected President his daughter-in-law often served as his hostess during Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt's frequent travels. The Roosevelts had two daughters, Sara and Kate. Betsy and James Roosevelt were divorced in 1940. Two years later she married Jock Whitney and Mr. Whitney adopted Mrs. Whitney's two Roosevelt daughters. They did not have any children of their own.

Greentree in Manhasset was one of a number of the residences of the Whitneys. Greentree had been bought by Jock Whitney's father, Payne Whitney, for his bride, Helen Hay, in 1904. It sprawled across nearly 600 acres in Manhasset. According to Jock Whitney's biographer, E. J. Kahn, it was "unarguably one of the grandest residences in America. It was quite possible to hold a fund-raising dinner for 150 people under part of the Greentree roof without disturbing the family under another part of it. The estate was comparatively modest in scale when Payne Whitney acquired it, but he made extensive alterations and additions. He bought adjacent land from some of the old families in the neighborhood--Schencks, Brinkerhoffs, Kissams, Mitchells." Eventually Whitney owned property from what is now the Long Island Expressway to Northern Boulevard and from Shelter Rock Road to Community Drive. The Whitneys donated the land on which North Shore University Hospital now stands to the hospital.

After the death of Jock Whitney's sister, Joan Whitney Payson, her property which was adjacent to her brother's and part of the original estate, was sold to the Unitarian Universalist Society for use as a church and meeting halls. South of Mrs. Payson's property, land that had been sold to William Paley when he was married to Mrs. Whitney's sister, Barbara, was later sold to developers who are presently building a complex called Stone Hill. What will become of Greentree is now a burning question.

Prior to 1985, the Whitney estate was located in part of the Town of North Hempstead in which three residences to an acre were permitted. Concerned that after Mrs. Whitney's death the heirs might sell to developers who would be able legally to build 1,540 houses, and after extensive study, the town board, under John B. Kiernan, supervisor, voted to rezone the property to 2.5 acre zoning.At that time, Mrs. Whitney's attorney, Robert Carswell of the firm of Shearman & Sterling, wrote to Mr. Kiernan, saying, in part: "Mrs. Whitney and her late husband have made it clear for more than 40 years that they hoped and expected to preserve the nature of their Greentree property. Neither she nor anyone authorized to speak on her behalf has ever said anything else. She has never had, and does not now have, any intention of developing her property. Mrs. Whitney believes that any rezoning decision should be deferred until a time when the discussion would focus on specific rather than imagined problems." At the time of the rezoning, Supervisor Kiernan acknowledged that the Whitneys' estate value had been reduced by approximately $30 to 40 million.

Despite the change from three parcels to an acre to one parcel on 2.5 acres, many conservationists did not think the zoning was restrictive enough. In 1993 North Hempstead created an "Application Protection Overlay District" to change the zoning in certain areas to five acres per parcel. In adopting this law the town stated: "The Town of North Hempstead recognizes that there are certain lands in the unincorporated areas of the town which have been identified as particularly critical to the present and future quality and quantity of the groundwater aquifer which is the sole source of the town's potable water supply. These lands have been identified by state law as special groundwater protection areas (SGPA). The Whitney property is largely located in such an area and, as such, is subject to five-acre zoning. It remains to be seen, now that Mrs. Whitney is no longer alive, whether her heirs will challenge this zoning.