NEW YORK ( CNN ) -- After spending nearly 28 years in an irreversible coma , heiress and socialite Martha `` Sunny '' von Bulow died Saturday in a New York nursing home , according to a family statement . She was 76 . Sunny von Bulow is pictured during her 1957 wedding to Prince Alfred von Auersperg . Von Bulow was subject of one of the nation 's most sensational criminal cases during the 1980s . Her husband , Claus , was accused of trying to kill her with an overdose of insulin , which prosecutors alleged sent her into the coma . He was convicted of making two attempts on her life , but the conviction was overturned on appeal . He was acquitted in a second trial . His retrial in 1985 received national attention . `` We were blessed to have an extraordinarily loving and caring mother , '' said the statement from Von Bulow 's three children -- Annie Laurie `` Ala '' Isham , Alexander von Auersperg and Cosima Pavoncelli -- released by a spokeswoman . `` She was especially devoted to her many friends and family members . '' Martha von Bulow was born Martha Sharp Crawford into a wealthy family . She inherited a fortune conservatively estimated at $ 75 million , according to an article on the von Bulow case posted on truTV.com 's Crime Library Web site . In her early years , she drew comparisons to actress Grace Kelly . She became known as Princess von Auersperg with her first marriage , to Prince Alfred von Auersperg of Austria . That marriage produced two children : Alexander and Annie Laurie . The von Bulows married in 1966 and had a daughter , Cosima . On the morning of December 22 , 1980 , family members found Martha von Bulow unconscious in the bathroom of the family 's posh Newport , Rhode Island , home . She never regained consciousness . She had been hospitalized a year earlier after lapsing into a coma but recovered , according to the Crime Library site . Doctors had diagnosed her with hypoglycemia , or low blood sugar . Prosecutors accused Claus von Bulow of twice attempting to kill his wife by injecting her with insulin . The case also led to a major motion picture , `` Reversal of Fortune . '' Actor Jeremy Irons won an Oscar for his portrayal of Claus von Bulow . Famed defense attorney Alan Dershowitz , who won Claus von Bulow a new trial on appeal after his conviction , said in a statement Saturday that Martha von Bulow 's death is `` a sad ending to a sad tragedy that some members of her family tried to turn into a crime . We proved overwhelming [ ly ] that there was no crime and that the coma was self-induced . We saved his life , but could not save hers . '' Claus von Bulow 's defense team maintained that Martha von Bulow 's alcohol use , among other factors , caused her coma . Dershowitz said he had spoken with Claus von Bulow , who now lives in London , England . Claus von Bulow was saddened by his former wife 's passing , Dershowitz said . The family statement said Martha von Bulow is survived by her children , their spouses and nine grandchildren . Alexander von Auersperg and Ala von Auersperg Isham , who had sided with prosecutors against Claus von Bulow , filed a civil suit against their stepfather after his acquittal . The case was settled out of court in 1987 , according to a 2007 article in the Providence Journal newspaper in Rhode Island . Claus von Bulow had agreed to waive his claim to his wife 's money and to a divorce in exchange for the suit being dropped . The von Bulows ' daughter , Cosima , sided with her father . Vanity Fair writer Dominick Dunne , who covered the von Bulow case , told the New York Daily News in 2007 that Sunny von Bulow was moved from Columbia Presbyterian hospital to a private nursing home in 1998 . Watch Dunne recall case » . Ala von Auersperg Isham served for a time as president of the Sunny von Bulow Coma and Head Trauma Research Foundation , according to the Providence Journal . An offshoot of that organization , the Brain Trauma Foundation , still operates in New York , the newspaper said . The family statement notes that Martha von Bulow actively supported the Metropolitan Museum of Art , the Metropolitan Opera and the J.P. Morgan Library in New York and the Preservation Society of Newport , Rhode Island . A private memorial service will be held for family and friends in New York in the coming days , the family statement said Saturday , along with a private burial . CNN 's Julian Cummings contributed to this report .
Husband Claus von Bulow was accused of trying to kill her with insulin overdose . Conviction overturned on appeal ; he was acquitted in second trial . Claus von Bulow , living in England , is saddened by former wife 's death , lawyer says . She is survived by three children and nine grandchildren .