The financier Otto Kahn, famed for his patronage of the Metropolitan Opera House, was surprised one day to find a sign hanging above a run-down store: "ABRAM CAHN. COUSIN OF OTTO H. KAHN." Kahn's lawyers, ordered to have the offending sign removed, promptly threatened the owner with legal action. Several days later, Kahn personally visited the store again to see whether the offending sign had in fact been taken down. It had. In its place, however, was a new one: "ABRAM CAHN. FORMERLY COUSIN OF OTTO H. KAHN."