Joan Rivers leaves part of $150 million fortune to AIDS charity

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Comedian Joan Rivers has left a portion of her wealth to a charity that helps people living with AIDS.

The outspoken comic passed away in September, aged 81, after she stopped breathing during a surgical procedure.

The Mail reports that her will was filed with New York State Surrogate’s Court on Tuesday – and daughter Melissa Rivers named as executor of her $150 million (£95 million)  trust.

Money was left to her close family and friends – but a substantial chunk was donated to AIDS charity God’s Love We Deliver.

The charity was set up in 1985 to deliver food to men dying at the height of the AIDS crisis – many of whom were not receiving substantial care.

It now provides over 4,600 meals every weekday to people living with AIDS and other illnesses across New York City, Newark and Hudson County, New Jersey.

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Ms Rivers had raised funds for the group a number of times while she was alive.

According to the newspaper, other charities which stand to benefit include Guide Dogs for the Blind, the Jewish Guild for the Blind, the Simon Wisenthal Center, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and the Jewish Home and Hospital Foundation.

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A month before her death, Joan Rivers claimed that President Barack Obama is gay, and his wife Michelle Obama “a tranny”.

After her death, the President sent a personal condolence note to Melissa Rivers despite the joke – saying in in part: “Not only did she make us laugh, she made us think.”

Following the joke, some conspiracy theorists began to theorise that the First Lady is actually transgender.

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