The decline of the Woolworth family fortune was driven by a combination of Frank W. Woolworth’s failure to execute a protective will and the reckless lifestyle of his granddaughter, Barbara Hutton. Barbara Hutton, who inherited the Woolworth fortune, squandered an estimated $900 million (adjusted for inflation) through seven marriages, extravagant spending, and substance abuse. Despite her father’s astute management, which grew her inheritance to $40 million at
