Nelson Rockefeller

In 1930, upon graduation, Nelson married Mary Todhunter Clark, a Philadelphia socialite. They had five children together but the couple divorced in 1962.

In 1963, he tied the knot with Margaretta Large Fitler, and the couple had two sons together. They remained married until his death.

Nelson Rockefeller died of a heart attack on January 26, 1979, in New York City, U.S. His remains were cremated at Ferncliff Cemetery, near Hartsdale, while his ashes were interred in a private Rockefeller family cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York.

Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller was born on July 8, 1908, in Bar Harbor, Maine, U.S., to John B. Rockefeller Jr., and his first wife, Abby Greene Aldrich. He was the grandson of John D. Rockefeller Sr., founder of the Standard Oil Company and was the third of six children born into one of the wealthiest families in the country.

After completing his elementary education from the Lincoln School in 1926, Nelson attended the Dartmouth College and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics in 1930.

Subsequently, he worked at the London and Paris branches of Chase National Bank, and later skillfully supervised the construction of Rockefeller Center in New York, a project initiated by his father in the late 1920s.

During his time in New York, Rockefeller developed an interest in government workings and gravitated towards politics. In 1933, he was appointed a member of the Westchester County Board of Health.

In 1940, he entered in national politics and accepted his first major governmental position as the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, in the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Although he was a Republican in the Democratic administration of Roosevelt, Nelson rose in the cabinet and was appointed the 1st Assistant Secretary of State for American Republic Affairs, in 1944.

In 1945, he resigned from his post and subsequently founded a private nonprofit group to support developing nations in Latin America. Five years later, in 1950, he returned to public career when he was appointed the head of the International Development Advisory Board, in the administration of President Harry S. Truman.

In 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed Nelson as 1st Undersecretary of the newly created Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, which he retained until 1955.

While serving as the Governor of New York for four successive terms, Nelson oversaw substantial changes in New York’s fiscal, cultural, and educational policies and facilities. A liberal Republican, he focused on areas such as education, housing, welfare, health care, transportation, arts, and state construction projects.

Nelson was a leading philanthropist and served as a keen advocate of civil rights movement, receiving much appreciation from Martin Luther King. He financed the reconstruction of several bombed churches in the South and made efforts to support a higher standard of living in underdeveloped parts of the world.