Gary Coleman Named Dion Mial Executor of His Estate

Now that a Last Will and Testament has surfaced, reportedly executed by "Diff'rent Strokes" star Gary Coleman in 1999 and never revoked, people are wondering who the close friend is that Coleman named as executor. The friend is reported to be Dion Mial, a former manager of Gary Coleman.

Dion Mial and his mother Terri Madrid-Mial were much in the news 20 years ago in connection with the court battle the 4' 9" Coleman waged with his parents for control of his money.

In January of 1989, there was a hearing on a conservator petition that Gary Coleman's mother filed asking the court to appoint a trustee to handle assets worth an estimated 6 million dollars, as well as an annual income of $750,000. Gary Coleman at the time called his mother "vindictive" and characterized her actions as just another attempt to control his life.

Coleman's mother, however, alleged she was concerned that her son was at risk of exploitation by Dion Mial and his mother Terri Madrid- Mial. Mrs. Coleman said that Dion Mial was an "unemployed Michael Jackson impersonator" who used his influence over Gary to fire his publicist, agent, business manager and entertainment lawyers who had been on the payroll for almost 10 years.

Gary's father, W. G. Coleman told Jet Magazine in an April 1989 interview that he believed "friends don't come between you and your parents. Friends stay outside." The Colemans felt that Gary had been "brainwashed and hypnotized."

Gary Coleman was sharing a house with Dion Mial at the time in Littleton, CO, and was happy to be out of the limelight: "Everybody was worrying about money -- the agent, my manager, my parents -- where their cut would come from if I wasn't working. I didn't care about working. For the first time, I was looking to have fun, make friends, do things other guys my age do."

He felt that his friend and his friend's mother, Terry Madrid-Mial, were his real family, and said "I think the friends and family atmosphere I've acquired with Dion's help have taken the place of anything I needed to do on my own."

Coleman met Dion Mial in 1978 when Terri Madrid-Mial was working as a supervisor of on-set tutors and brought her son to the set of Diff-rent Strokes. While Coleman's parents were also critical of the motives of Dion's mother, Terri Madrid-Mial said: "I'm trying to help Gary get a realistic understanding of his life and his career. Then he can form his own opinions. Those are his priorities. Not what his parents feel."

The significance of the year 1989 in Gary Coleman's life is that was the year he turned 21 on February 8th and became a legal adult. He could make his own decisions.

According to Salt Lake City attorney, Kent B. Alderman, who reportedly will be representing Dion Mial in Utah probate proceedings, Gary Coleman's Will was made in 1999, and according to Dion Mial, they continued to maintain their friendship.

Dion Mial confirmed that he is the executor in a statement to CNN on June 5th: "Not only am I saying goodbye to a friend, but I'm saying goodbye to my brother," Mial said. "I will not allow my selfish grief to eclipse the unspeakable joy that Gary brought to me and to my family for the last 32 years. I'm as equally and passionately committed to honor his memory, as I was always so committed to his destiny in life," and added: ""I am humbled by Gary's confidence in me and by his fearless friendship."

Mial said that funeral arrangements are "pending."

Sources:
Jet Magazine: Gary Coleman's Parent's Tell Their Side (4/17/1989)
CNN.com: Gary Coleman funeral plan "pending" as executor takes over (6/5/2010)
Fikkle Fame: Gary Coleman's Real Will Surfaces (photo of Mial and Coleman) (6/4/2010)