By Dan Horn
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The widow of Charles H. Dater offered Thursday to give up her seven-year legal battle over her late husband's $100 million fortune.

In exchange for dropping her claim to more than $25 million, Ann Dater is seeking $1 and the resignations of the five trustees who oversee the Charles H. Dater Foundation.

She has accused the trustees of mismanaging the foundation - one of the largest in Greater Cincinnati - and enriching themselves at the expense of the charities they are supposed to serve.

The trustees have denied those allegations and say the $40 million foundation has flourished under their stewardship. A spokesman for the trustees said Thursday they had not seen Dater's settlement offer and could not comment on it.

The offer was made in a status report to Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Dennis Helmick, who has presided over the case for nearly three years.

The trustees have argued that Dater, who received millions of dollars from family trusts after the death of her husband, filed the lawsuit because she wants more money. The settlement offer filed Thursday challenges that claim.

The 87-year-old Dater said she is prepared to drop her lawsuit if the trustees step down and allow an independent committee to select their replacements.

She says trustees took advantage of her husband's failing mental health when they helped him establish the foundation and a series of family trusts before his death in 1993.

The trustees received lifetime appointments to the foundation, salaries of about $70,000 a year and legal and consulting fees in excess of $4 million.

Two of the trustees - Paul Krone and his son, Bruce - were Dater's lawyers. The others - Stanley Frank Jr., David Olberding and John Silvati - were his brokers. Paul Krone has since died and been replaced as a trustee by his wife, Dorothy.

"The foundation and its trustees have done nothing improper," said Roger Ruhl, spokesman for the foundation. "The suit brought by Mrs. Dater simply has no merit."

The Ohio Attorney General's Office also has sued the trustees, claiming they have wasted money, violated their "fiduciary obligations" and paid themselves excessive fees and salaries. That suit, filed two years ago, still is pending.

Charles Dater had no children and was the last direct descendant of a family that arrived from Germany in the 1830s, founded a successful farm and made a fortune running the old Stockyard Bank.

The battle over his money has bounced from Common Pleas court to the appellate courts for years, even as the foundation has continued to hand out grants to hundreds of charities, including Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, the Cincinnati Opera, schools and youth groups.

Dater's lawyer, Quintin Lindsmith, has complained in court papers that the trustees are stalling in the apparent hope his client dies before the case is resolved. He said the trustees have refused to participate in settlement discussions.

"Mrs. Dater is in failing health," Lindsmith said. "She wants to die in peace."

E-mail dhorn@enquirer.com