Rash's Surname Index
Notes for Margaretta Large FITLER
Margaretta "Happy" Rockefeller, 88, the Bryn Mawr-born widow of former Vice President Nelson Rockefeller and one of the first women to speak publicly about her breast cancer, died Tuesday at her home in Tarrytown, N.Y., after a brief illness.
Mrs. Rockefeller, who earned her nickname as a child because of her pleasant personality, died peacefully in her sleep, family spokesman Fraser Seitel said.
Both she and Nelson Rockefeller, who was then the New York governor, were divorced when they married in 1963. That was seen as scandalous at the time, and pundits blamed the marriage for Nelson Rockefeller's failure to secure the 1964 Republican presidential nomination.
At that time, no divorced candidate had ever won the presidency; Ronald Reagan became the only divorced president when he was elected in 1980.
After her husband served four terms as New York's governor, he was named by President Gerald Ford to serve as vice president after Richard Nixon's resignation in the Watergate scandal in 1974. Shortly after he was chosen, Mrs. Rockefeller was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent two mastectomies. She and Ford's wife, Betty, were among the first women to speak publicly about the disease.
"She went through it with dignity and was one of the first role models," said longtime friend Richard Parsons, a senior adviser at Providence Equity Partners. "She carried herself unapologetically."
A well-known socialite for many causes, Mrs. Rockefeller served as chairwoman of the board for the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. In 1991, she was appointed as a public delegate to the United Nations by President George H. W. Bush.
Her philanthropic activities included support for the Philadelphia Orchestra's annual visits to China. She also supported the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park in New York City, the Central Park Conservancy, and Historic Hudson Valley.
Born Margaretta Large Fitler on June 9, 1926, in Bryn Mawr, she often spoke of being a proud descendant of Gen. George Gordon Meade, who commanded Union forces at the Battle of Gettysburg. She graduated in 1944 from the Shipley School in Bryn Mawr and married James Slater Murphy in 1948. The couple had four children, three of whom survive.
She divorced Murphy about a month before marrying Rockefeller in May 1963. They had two sons.
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