Remember Doorly, “the Poor Man's Madoff”?

John Doorly reportedly looted the trusts of more than 100 descendants of the Ayer family. Now he's on trial, facing perhaps 20 years in prison. He also may have to part with $20 million and his time-share at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club and Spa in Florida.

Any trust officer whose wealthiest client asks why he shouldn't set up his own family office should tell him about Doorly.

Googling the Ayer family takes you back to a New England that has largely vanished. The obit of Frederick Ayer, who died in 1914 at age 95, is here.

Frederick Ayer II (a grandson?) lived not quite as long. His 1998 obituary begins thusly:

Frederick Ayer II, heir to a family fortune generated by woolen mills and sarsaparilla, got the message from his father when he was a boy: He was urged to make something of himself and not merely live off his inheritance, so something would be left for future generations.

A research physicist, Ayer II helped fund the sexual research of Masters and Johnson, along with research on UFOs, DNA and cancer. He collected orchids and compiled a grammar of the Balinese language.

"Go to work, support causes you believe in, and feel free to be eccentric." That's how New England once raised its trust fund babies. How did we end up with today's version?