Doris Duke
| Doris Duke | |
|---|---|
Duke entering her cabana at Bailey's Beach in Newport, Rhode Island, 1934
|
|
| Born |
November 22, 1912 New York, New York |
| Died | October 28, 1993 (aged 80) Beverly Hills, California |
| Cause of death | Cardiac arrest from progressive Pulmonary edema |
| Residence |
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| Occupation | Philanthropist, art collector, horticulturalist, socialite |
| Spouse(s) |
James H. R. Cromwell (m. 1935–43) Porfirio Rubirosa (m. 1947–51) |
| Children | Premature baby; died after one day (1940) |
| Parent(s) |
James Buchanan Duke (father) Nanaline Holt Inman (mother) |
| Relatives | Washington Duke (grandfather) |
Doris Duke (November 22, 1912 – October 28, 1993) was an American heiress, socialite, horticulturalist, art collector, and philanthropist.
The daughter of a wealthy tobacco tycoon, Duke was able to fund a life of global travel and wide-ranging interests. These extended across journalism, competition surfing, jazz piano, wildlife conservation, Oriental art and Hare Krishna.
Much of her work centered on her father's estate at Hillsborough Township, New Jersey, where she created many elaborately-themed gardens, furnished with artifacts acquired on her world travels, including one of America's largest indoor botanical displays. She was also active in preserving more than 80 historic buildings in Newport, Rhode Island.
Twice married and divorced, Duke enjoyed a colorful private life that was seldom out of the gossip columns.
Her philanthropic work continued into her old age, some of it unknown to the public during her lifetime, and her estimated $1.3 billion fortune was largely left to charity. After much legal challenging of the executors and trustees, Duke's legacy is now administered by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, dedicated to medical research, prevention of cruelty to children and animals, the performing arts, wildlife and ecology.
Duke was born in New York City, the only child of tobacco and hydroelectric power tycoon James Buchanan Duke and his second wife, Nanaline Holt Inman, widow of Dr. William Patterson Inman. At his death in 1925, the elder Duke's will bequeathed the majority of his estate to his wife and daughter, along with $17 million in two separate clauses of the will, to The Duke Endowment he had created in 1924. The total value of the estate was not disclosed, but was estimated variously at $60 million to $100 million (equivalent to $819 million to $1.366 billion in 2017).
Duke spent her early childhood at Duke Farms, her father's 2,700-acre (11 km2) estate in Hillsborough Township, New Jersey. Due to ambiguity in James Duke's will, a lawsuit was filed to prevent auctions and outright sales of real estate he had owned; in effect, Doris Duke successfully sued her mother and other executors to prevent the sales. One of the pieces of real estate in question was a Manhattan mansion at 1 East 78th Street which later became the home of the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University.
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