Annette de la Renta (born 24 December 1939) is an American philanthropist and socialite, the widow of the Dominican fashion designer

Oscar de la Renta Óscar Arístides Renta Fiallo (22 July 1932 – 20 October 2014), known professionally as Oscar de la Renta, was a Dominican fashion designer. Born in Santo Domingo, he was trained by Cristóbal Balenciaga and Antonio del Castillo. De la Renta ...

. She was named to the

International Best Dressed List The International Best-Dressed Hall of Fame List was founded by fashionista Eleanor Lambert in 1940 as an attempt to boost the reputation of American fashion at the time. The American magazine '' Vanity Fair'' is currently in charge of the List af ...

Hall of Fame in 1973.

Birth and childhood

Born in

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

, France, as Anne France Mannheimer and nicknamed Annette, she is the only child of a German Jewish banker,

Fritz Mannheimer Fritz Mannheimer (19 September 1890 – 9 August 1939) was a German Empire, German-born and, from 1936, Dutch people, Dutch banker and art collector who was the director of the Amsterdam branch of the Berlin-based investment bank Mendelssohn & Co. ...

(1890–1939), who died before her birth, and his Roman Catholic wife, Mary Jane Reiss (1917-2004, aka Marie Annette Jane Reiss, aka

Jane Engelhard Jane Engelhard (August 12, 1917 – February 29, 2004), born Mary Jane Reiss, was an American philanthropist, best known for her marriage to billionaire industrialist Charles W. Engelhard Jr., as well as her donation of an elaborate 18th-century ...

). Her German-born maternal grandfather, Hugo Reiss, was a German Jewish businessman in

Shanghai, China Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

, where he served as the Brazilian consul; and her maternal grandmother, Mary Ignatius Murphy, was a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

of Irish descent from San Francisco.Michael Gros
Rogues' Gallery: The Secret Story of the Lust, Lies, Greed, and Betrayals That Made the Metropolitan Museum of Art
pp. 379, 385, 396 In 1947, after her mother moved to the United States and remarried, Annette Mannheimer was adopted by her stepfather,

Charles W. Engelhard Jr. Charles W. Engelhard Jr. (February 15, 1917 – March 2, 1971) was an American businessman, a major owner in Thoroughbred horse racing, and a candidate in the New Jersey Senate, 1955 New Jersey State Senate Elections. He controlled an internationa ...

, an industrial magnate, and became Annette Engelhard; she became an American citizen in 1966. She was raised in the

faith of her mother.

Marriages and family life

In 1960, she married private investor Samuel Pryor Reed (1934 - 2005) in a Roman Catholic ceremony in

Bernardsville, New Jersey Bernardsville () is a borough in Somerset County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The borough is nestled in the heart of the Raritan Valley region. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 7,707,

. He was a vice president of Engelhard Industries, the minerals conglomerate; who later owned ''

American Heritage American Heritage may refer to: * ''American Heritage'' (magazine) * ''The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language'' * American Heritage Rivers * American Heritage School (disambiguation) See also *National Register of Historic Place ...

'' magazine. Reed and Annette eventually divorced. The couple had three children: * Beatrice Anne Reed, who married:
(1) Roger Albert Morrison (they had three children: Katherine, Charles, and Nicholas)
(2)

David Niven Jr. David Niven Jr. is a British film producer, film actor and script writer who was an executive at Paramount Pictures and Columbia Pictures. He is the son of actor David Niven and Primula Rollo. Career Niven was the head of the William Mor ...

, a son of the actor

David Niven James David Graham Niven (; 1 March 1910 – 29 July 1983) was a British actor, soldier, memoirist, and novelist. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as Major Pollock in ''Separate Tables'' (1958). Niven's other roles ...

(3) David Phelps, a California real estate attorney * Eliza Reed, who married Alexander Lytton Bolen in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.Oscar de la Renta Óscar Arístides Renta Fiallo (22 July 1932 – 20 October 2014), known professionally as Oscar de la Renta, was a Dominican fashion designer. Born in Santo Domingo, he was trained by Cristóbal Balenciaga and Antonio del Castillo. De la Renta ...

La Romana, Dominican Republic La Romana is a municipality and capital of the southeastern province of La Romana, opposite Catalina Island. It is one of the 10 largest cities in the Dominican Republic with a population estimated in 2010 at 130,426 within the city limits ( m ...

, becoming step-mother of his adopted son, Moises de la Renta. On 26 July 2006, Annette de la Renta was appointed temporary guardian of the 104-year-old

Brooke Astor Roberta Brooke Astor (née Russell; March 30, 1902 – August 13, 2007) was an American philanthropist, socialite, and writer who was the chairwoman of the Vincent Astor Foundation, established by her third husband, Vincent Astor, son of John Ja ...

, a long-time friend, in the wake of

elder abuse Elder abuse (also called "elder mistreatment", "senior abuse", "abuse in later life", "abuse of older adults", "abuse of older women", and "abuse of older men") is "a single, or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any rela ...

allegation In law, an allegation is a claim of an unproven fact by a party in a pleading, charge, or defense. Until they can be proved, allegations remain merely assertions.

s being made against Astor's son,

Anthony Dryden Marshall Anthony Dryden Marshall (born Anthony Dryden Kuser; May 30, 1924 – November 30, 2014) was an American theatrical producer and C.I.A. intelligence officer and ambassador. Marshall died on November 30, 2014, at the age of 90. Early life and fam ...

. On 13 October 2006, de la Renta became permanent guardian. On 20 October 2014, her husband, Oscar de la Renta, died of cancer, at age 82.

Philanthropy

De la Renta serves on the boards of the

Metropolitan Museum The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, the

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...

, the

Morgan Library The Morgan Library & Museum, formerly the Pierpont Morgan Library, is a museum and research library in the Murray Hill neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It is situated at 225 Madison Avenue, between 36th Street to the south and 37th S ...

, the Animal Medical Center, and the Engelhard Foundation. She also served on the board of directors of

Rockefeller University The Rockefeller University is a private biomedical research and graduate-only university in New York City, New York. It focuses primarily on the biological and medical sciences and provides doctoral and postdoctoral education. It is classif ...

for 25 years, and now serves as a trustee emeritus.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:De La Renta, Annette 1939 births American philanthropists American people of German-Jewish descent American people of Irish descent American Roman Catholics Living people American socialites People from Nice French emigrants to the United States