SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) - The death of 94-year-old Springfield hotel magnate and philanthropist John Q. Hammons brings to a close a two-year legal battle over his care.
A group of eight close friends of the late developer filed suit in March 2011 over concerns about his declining health. They worried he had been purposely isolated in a nursing home and denied visitors by Jacqueline Dowdy, the Hammons confidant who is now CEO of the company that bears his name. A Greene County judge appointed a legal guardian and closed the case from public view.
Hammons' court-appointed attorney, Evelyn Magnan, told The Associated Press on Wednesday the case is essentially complete as a result of his death Sunday. She says division of his sizable estate will occur separately.