| Hélène Pastor | |
| Birth Date: | 31 March 1937 |
| Birth Place: | Monaco |
| Death Place: | Nice, France |
| Death Cause: | Gunshot wounds |
| Occupation: | Businesswoman |
| Spouse: | 2, including Claude Pallanca |
| Children: | 2, including Gildo Pallanca Pastor |
| Parents: | Gildo Pastor |
| Relatives: | Jean-Baptiste Pastor (paternal grandfather) Michel Pastor (brother) Victor Pastor (brother) Philippe Pastor (nephew) Patrice Pastor (nephew) Wojciech Janowski (son-in-law) |
Hélène Pastor (31 March 1937 – 21 May 2014) was a Monegasque businesswoman and heiress. She headed what is seen as Monaco’s ‘second dynasty’, and was the richest woman in the principality. She was assassinated by a gang that included her son-in-law, who was subsequently jailed for life in 2018.
Hélène Pastor was born in 1937.[1] [2] Her father, Gildo Pastor, was an heir and businessman.[1] [2] [3] [4] Her paternal grandfather, Jean-Baptiste Pastor, was an Italian builder who moved to Monaco in the 1880s.[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
She grew up in Monaco with her two brothers, Michel Pastor and Victor Pastor.[2] [4] [5]
She was the owner of Helene Pastor Pallanca SAM, a real estate company.[6] She owned Le Bahia and Émilie Palace in the Larvotto district,[7] [8] the Trocadero,[9] Continental and Le Schuylkill apartment buildings,[10] [11] and the Gildo Pastor Center in the Fontvieille district.[6] [12] [13] They were worth US$3.7 billion.[6]
She was the richest woman in Monaco.[14] [15] Most of her wealth came from collecting rent.[6] In its obituary, The Daily Telegraph called her "the senior surviving member of what is, in effect, Monaco’s second dynasty after the ruling Grimaldis".[1] She was known in Monaco as "La Vice Princesse" (English: "The Vice Princess").[1] [5]
She was married twice.[1] With her first husband, she had a daughter, Sylvia Pastor, born in 1961,[2] [6] who lived with Wojciech Janowski, a Polish-born businessman, for 28 years.[16] [17]
She then married Claude Pallanca, a dentist.[1] [2] They had a son, Gildo Pallanca Pastor, born in 1967.[1] [2] [4] [6]
On 6 May 2014, Pastor was traveling by car from the L' Archet Hospital in western Nice, France, where she had been visiting her son.[1] [3] [18] Minutes later, a gunman fired at her car, hitting both Pastor and her chauffeur, Mohamed Darouich.[1] [3] She was rushed to the Saint Roch hospital in central Nice, and fell into a coma.[18] Darouich died from his injuries on 11 May. Pastor woke up from her coma on 16 May,[19] but died five days later, on 21 May, at age 77.[2] [5]
Upon her death, the Prince's Palace of Monaco released a statement saying, "HSH the Prince expresses his deep compassion to the children of Mrs Hélène Pastor-Pallanca at the announcement of her tragic passing."[4] Her funeral was attended by Albert II, Prince of Monaco.[16]
Christian Estrosi, the Mayor of Nice, released the following statement, "My thoughts go out to Gildo, Hélène Pastor’s son, as well as all of her relatives. I share their pain and grief. My thoughts also go out to all the Monégasques who were devastated by this tragedy."[4] [20]
In June 2014, her son-in-law, Wojciech Janowski, admitted to being involved with her assassination.[16] In 2017, Janowski and nine more individuals, including fitness trainer Pascal Dauriac and his brother-in-law Abdelkader Belkhatir, were summoned to court over for a trial.[21] [22] On 17 October 2018, Janowski was sentenced to life in prison.[23]