Bringing Up Baby Gavin

When the old man died in 1976, though, control of the $2 billion trust was transferred to Gordon, who used his income to support a life of leisure. He composed classical music, invented elaborate economic theories, and raised four sons with his wife, Ann, the doyenne of Nob Hill society. (In 1999, Gordon revealed that he had also fathered three daughters with a Los Angeles woman named Cynthia Beck.) In the mid-'80s, Gordon decided that Getty Oil's stock was undervalued and forced a sale of the company to Texaco Corp. for $10 billion, doubling the assets of the Getty trust. With a major assist from Judge Newsom, Gordon then broke the trust into four portions. One went to his brother Paul, a reclusive drug addict (now recovered). Another was assigned to the children of his elder brother George (who died of a drug overdose in 1973). The third chunk went to the children of Ronald Getty (a brother who had been disinherited by Daddy Getty in a fit of spite). Gordon kept the fourth piece for himself.

Getty has the bulk of his $2 billion estate sequestered in the Gordon P. Getty Family Trust, managed by Newsom. The judge says the trust earns about 2 percent a year, which translates into roughly $40 million in annual income for Gordon. Despite his and his wife's profligate lifestyle -- flying to and from vacation spots around the world on their personal Boeing 727 -- it must be difficult to spend it all.

Far from being the potty, absent-minded professor type, as the media often depicts him, Gordon Getty, 69, is one of the nation's leading venture capitalists. He also is a well-known philanthropist. Last year, he donated $3 million to the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, a charitable trust. Though a Republican, he is a major fund-raiser for local and national Democratic Party candidates. House Whip Nancy Pelosi and many other powerful politicians, including Willie Brown and Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, a leading presidential contender, benefit from his patronage.

But it is William Newsom -- his boyhood friend -- whom Getty relies on most, to protect and enhance his fortune.

Newsom's grandfather immigrated to America from Ireland in 1865. His father, a building contractor, was an associate of San Francisco Democratic Party boss William Malone, who was overthrown in the 1960s by Congressman Phil Burton and his brother John. Pat Brown, who rose from San Francisco district attorney to become governor of California (and father of a future governor), was close to Judge Newsom's father, also named William.

After graduating from the University of San Francisco, Newsom attended Stanford law school and was admitted to the California Bar in 1962. He did a stint as legal adviser to the Italian division of Getty Oil and worked as a tax attorney for the Gettys. At 32, the handsome lawyer was smitten by Tessa Menzies, then still in her teens. Married in 1967, the couple produced Gavin and a daughter, Hilary, before splitting after five years. "It was an Irish divorce," says the judge. "We remained friends, neither remarried." (Tessa died last year.)

Newsom blames the breakup of his marriage on politics. In 1968, he says, the Burton brothers and Willie Brown talked him into running against state Sen. Milton Marks, a popular Republican. Newsom lost.

"Tessa did not share my passion for politics," he says. "I wish I'd dropped out of the race. I watch Gavin -- I hope politics doesn't affect his marriage."

In 1975, Gov. Jerry Brown, son of Pat, appointed William Newsom to the Superior Court bench in rural Placer County. Three years later, Brown elevated him to the state Court of Appeal in San Francisco, where he served until 1995.

According to Painfully Rich, a biography of the Getty family by British author John Pearson, Newsom has been, above all else, a pillar of probity upon whom Getty family members have leaned in times both sweet and sour. ("Pearson's book is reputable," the judge says.) He officiates at Getty marriage ceremonies. He creates trust funds for angry wives divorced by philandering Getty men. He remembers family members' birthdays. He mourns at their funerals. He chaperones their drug addicts and alcoholics in and out of treatment programs. He even helps them cope with criminal tormentors.

In 1973, kidnappers snatched 18-year-old Jean Paul Getty III in Rome. They demanded that the boy's grandfather ransom him for $17 million. The old miser refused to give them a lira. Months went by. The kidnappers sliced off the boy's ear and mailed it to an Italian newspaper. (Due to a postal strike, the appendage did not arrive for three weeks.) In the face of public disgust at the depth of his stinginess, Getty coughed up $3 million to save his grandchild's life. In order to put the kidnappers more at ease, the Gettys asked Newsom to help deliver the money. The boy was released and Newsom's stock with the Getty family soared.