Indy real estate tycoon dies, leaving fortune for Icelandic amusement park

            By Willis Floyd, THG News

August 29, 2004

Indianapolis real estate mogul Clarence P. Hildenbrand succumbed to a long battle with heart failure in a hospital bed at St. Vincent’s Hospital.

When it came to buying, selling, and developing real estate, Hildenbrand was all business.  Even after the age of 80, he would still work 12-hour days at the office, scrutinizing every detail of his company’s ventures.  He often bragged that he could “work circles around” men half his age.

This work ethic had made Hildenbrand a millionaire many times over before his death Tuesday at the age of 89.  Maybe this is why it is so surprising that he left the bulk of his $30 million fortune behind for a more pleasurable pursuit.

In his last will and testament, Clarence Hildenbrand declared that “upon my demise, $26.7 million of my fortune will be given to the government of the Republic of Iceland, to be used for the building of an amusement park.”

While this bequest seems strange to most people, Hildenbrand’s friends were not surprised upon hearing the news.

“On those rare occasions that Hildenbrand did take a week or two off from work to vacation with his wife (Mary, who passed away in 2002), his favorite activity was to travel the U.S. and Europe, visiting amusement parks.  His favorites were Cedar Point (Ohio) and Tivoli Gardens (Denmark),” said lawyer and estate administrator Ted Ridgewood, a friend of Hildenbrand’s for over thirty years. 

“I remember Clarence was planning a trip to tour amusement parks in Western Europe a few years ago and found out that the only country that did not have one is Iceland.  He said it made him sad that children there could not ride roller coasters unless they could afford to go to mainland Europe.  I guess he wanted to do something about it,” said longtime business partner Gene Peterson.

The rest of Hildenbrand’s fortune will be donated to a variety of his favorite charities, including the American Heart Association and the American Humane Society.

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