Wacky Wednesday: Wills That Make
You Go “Hmmm…” – TM Zink

NB: This post is part of a series highlighting wills that contain some interesting, and sometimes bizarre, bequests and stipulations. You can see all these posts here.

TM Zink was a lawyer who noted an “intense hatred of women” in his will.

Evidently this was not based on an personal differences he had with them, but rather “the result of my experiences with women, observations of them, and study of all literatures and philosophical works.”

So when he died in 1930, he left about $100,000 in trust for 75 years, which he hoped would grow to $3,000,000 and fund the “Zink Womanless Library.” He directed that the words “No Women Admitted” be posted at each entrance, and that no books, works of arts, or decorations by women were to be permitted in or around the library.

Mr. Zink wishes were never realized because his daughter, to whom he bequeathed $5, was able to successfully contest the will. Therefore, his entire estate ironically fell into the hands of a woman, and the Zink Womanless Library was never established.