Last December, the oldest son of Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff killed himself in his Soho apartment, emotionally distraught over the cloud his father's dealings had left over his life. Mark Madoff had been estranged from his now-imprisoned father and mother Ruth, and now it's reported that Ruth Madoff was "turned away" from his memorial "by his unforgiving widow, Stephanie."
The Post says that Ruth Madoff flew from Florida to Connecticut for the service and, after the snub, ended up sitting shiva alone at a friend's house. The friend said, "She told me, 'At night, it gets to me -- the shame, the disgrace, all the stuff that killed Mark.'" In the wake of Bernard Madoff's revelations, Mark Madoff and his brother Andrew allegedly told their mother to choose between them or their father, and Ruth picked Bernie, causing their rift.
People magazine says that Ruth Madoff is living a quiet life in Florida, using her maiden name Alpern (her sister and brother-in-law also live in Florida and now run a car service to make ends meet). The friend added, "If Ruth were able to feel that pain, in the magnitude that it's actually there, I don't know that she wouldn't do what Mark wound up doing."
