Former Yahoo CEO Terry Semel Has Alzheimer's Disease, Son Files for Conservatorship

Terry Semel, the former CEO of Yahoo, is suffering from dementia in the form of Alzheimer's Disease and his son has filed for a conservatorship to take over control of his finances.

According to court documents obtained by The Blast, Semel's son Eric is asking to be named the conservator of his father. Eric says Terry's condition has rendered "him unable to provide properly for his personal needs and financial affairs."

Eric says Terry's current wife, Jane, has abused her authority and taken actions that are in direct contravention of his father's "stated wishes and best interests."

In the documents, Eric says he is most concerned with the fact that Jane has uprooted Terry from his 13,000 sq ft estate on Mullohannd Drive and moved him into a 500 sq foot apartment at the Motion Picture Television Fund House, which Eric describes as "a retirement/nursing home intended for low income entertainment members."

While Terry does have round the clock care at MPTFH, his son was informed that his father "would cry practically every night because he was upset about his living arrangements." Eric calls the living arrangements a "substantial downgrade" from his usual standard of living and is over an hour away from his children and friends.

According to the documents, Eric asked Jane "to make adjustments" so that his father could live in his own home but she refused.

The documents lay out a harrowing incident earlier this month where Eric claims that during a visit, he witnessed his father crying in pain. Terry has previously received epidural shots due to severe back pain and, according to his son, Jane has instructed Terry's caregivers not to take him to have them administered.

Eric explains in the docs that while his father is mostly non-verbal, he "is able to get a sense of how Terry is feeling based on Terry’s non-verbal expressions." While visiting his father on May 4, Eric claims his father "could hardly walk, and he was grimacing from the pain" so severe he "broke down crying multiple times" and had to use a wheelchair.

Maria Blanco, a licensed vocational nurse who was hired by Jane, claims she's been ordered to limit Terry's medications, treatments and food consumption by Semel's wife.

"I said to Mrs. Semel so many times that Terry needs to have oxygen in his room in case his oxygen levels are low. Mrs. Semel has repeatedly told me 'no,'" Blanco said in a declaration.

According to the nurse, Jane stopped allowing her to take Terry to Denny's, a place he enjoyed, and won't let him have orange juice or any other beverage because Jane feels her husband is "fat."

"I am not to give Terry any bread, and only a small amount of eggs and fruit," Blanco said.

Eric is looking for someone other than Jane to take over control of his father's estate and his person.

In 2004, the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute and Hospital was renamed the Jane & Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior.

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