Bernard Lafferty

Chandi Duke Heffner recommended Bernard Lafferty to Doris Duke as a butler. Bernard had formerly worked for Chandi's sister Charlene who had recently married billionaire Nelson Peltz. Bernard was Irish and an orphan who emigrated to the U.S. when he was 35. Doris hired him as her butler in 1987. He endeared himself to Doris and became her closest confidant and constant companion. Doris Duke died on October 28, 1993 at the age of 80. Upon her death Bernard was put in charge of the estate. Bernard died in 1996 of a heart attack in his sleep in his $2.1 million Bel-Air home.