Cathleen Vanderbilt Arostegui (January 23, 1904 – January 25, 1944)
was an American heiress and member of the
Vanderbilt family
The Vanderbilt family is an American family who gained prominence during the Gilded Age. Their success began with the shipping and railroad empires of Cornelius Vanderbilt, and the family expanded into various other areas of industry and philanthr ...
.
Early life
Cathleen was born on January 23, 1904 in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. She was the only daughter of
Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt
Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt (January 14, 1880 – September 4, 1925) was a member of the Vanderbilt family. He was the father of Gloria Vanderbilt and maternal grandfather of Anderson Cooper. An avid equestrian, Vanderbilt was the founder and pr ...
(1880–1925) and his first wife, Cathleen (née Neilson; 1885–1927).
Her father had a country home known as Sandy Point Farm in
Portsmouth, Rhode Island
Portsmouth is a town in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 17,871 at the 2020 U.S. census. Portsmouth is the second-oldest municipality in Rhode Island, after Providence; it was one of the four colonies which merged ...
. Before her parents' eventual divorce in 1920, they separated and she continued to live with her mother.
After the divorce, her mother remarried to Sidney Jones Colford Jr. in 1921,
and her father remarried to
Gloria Morgan, with whom he had one more daughter,
Gloria Vanderbilt
Gloria Laura Vanderbilt (February 20, 1924 – June 17, 2019) was an American artist, author, actress, fashion designer, heiress, and socialite.
During the 1930s, she was the subject of a high-profile child custody trial in which her mother ...
.
Her maternal grandparents were Frederick Neilson and
Isabelle Gebhard Neilson.
Her paternal grandparents were
Cornelius Vanderbilt II
Cornelius "Corneil" Vanderbilt II (November 27, 1843 – September 12, 1899) was an American socialite
and a member of the prominent United States Vanderbilt family.
Noted forebears
He was the favorite grandson of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbil ...
and
Alice Claypoole Vanderbilt
Alice Claypoole Vanderbilt (; November 11, 1845 – April 24, 1934) was the wife of Cornelius Vanderbilt II and reigned as the matriarch of the Vanderbilt family for over 60 years.
Early life and relatives
Alice Claypoole Gwynne was born on Novem ...
.
Among her large family was uncle
Cornelius Vanderbilt III
Brigadier General Cornelius "Neily" Vanderbilt III (September 5, 1873 – March 1, 1942) was an American military officer, inventor, engineer, and yachtsman. He was a member of the Vanderbilt family.
Early life
Born in New York City to Cornelius ...
,
aunt
Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney
Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (January 9, 1875 – April 18, 1942) was an American sculptor, art patron and collector, and founder in 1931 of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. She was a prominent social figure and hostess, ...
, who married
Harry Payne Whitney
Harry Payne Whitney (April 29, 1872 – October 26, 1930) was an American businessman, thoroughbred horse breeder, and member of the prominent Whitney family.
Early years
Whitney was born in New York City on April 29, 1872, as the eldest son ...
and founded the
Whitney Museum
The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude ...
,
uncle
Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt
Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt Sr. (October 20, 1877 – May 7, 1915) was a wealthy American businessman, and a member of the Vanderbilt family. A sportsman, he participated in and pioneered a number of related endeavors. He died in the sinking of ...
, who died on the ,
and aunt
Gladys Vanderbilt Széchenyi
Gladys Moore Vanderbilt, Countess Széchenyi (August 27, 1886 – January 29, 1965), was an American heiress from the Vanderbilt family and wife of Hungarian Count László Széchenyi.
Early life
She was born as Gladys Moore Vanderbilt i ...
, who married Count
László Széchenyi
Count László Széchenyi de Sárvár-Felsővidék (18 February 1879 – 5 July 1938) was an Austro Hungarian military officer, Imperial Chamberlain, diplomat and venture capitalist. His great-uncle was István Széchenyi. László Széchenyi mar ...
.
After her father's death in September 1925, Cathleen and her half-sister Gloria inherited the bulk of their father's estate, including a $5,000,000 trust established by Reginald's father,
Cornelius II, in 1899.
Personal life
In 1923, Cathleen was married to Henry "Harry" Cooke Cushing III (1895–1960) in the Italian Gardens of the Ambassador Hotel. Harry was the son of Harry Cooke Cushing Jr. and Adelaide Blanche Cohnfeld, and the nephew of illustrator
Otho Cushing
Otho Williams McD. Cushing (October 22, 1870 – October 13, 1942) was an American artist, known primarily for his early 20th century illustration and cartoons, for magazines and posters. His sometimes-homoerotic style, often featuring classical ...
. Before their divorce in 1932, they lived at 26
East 96th Street and were the parents of Henry Cooke Cushing IV (1924–2000),
a polo player and investor who was married to Georgia Walters "Georgette Windsor" (born 1924), Ruth Swift Dunbar (1932–2010),
Rosalba Neri
Rosalba Neri (born 19 June 1939) is a retired Italian actress.
Early life
Born in Forlì, Emilia-Romagna, Italy, Neri was regarded for her beauty even in youth, winning a beauty pageant when she was still young. Eventually pursuing an acting ca ...
(born 1939), and Laura Alvarez.
In August 1932, ten days after her divorce from Cushing, she married
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
radio executive Lawrence Wise Lowman (1900–1980) at the court house in
Hempstead,
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...
. After their marriage, Lowman, a son of David and Amalia Lowman,
made their home in New York City. Cathleen obtained a divorce from Lowman on June 7, 1940 in the Cuban courts.
On October 9, 1940, she married for the third and final time to Antonio Martin Arostegui (1911–1986), the publisher of ''PM'', the only English afternoon newspaper in
Havana, Cuba
Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center. . He was the son of Marquesa de Justiz de Santa Ana and Arturo Arostegui.
After a two month illness, Cathleen died at the Anglo-American Hospital in the
Vedado
Vedado ( es, El Vedado, ) is a central business district and urban neighborhood in the city of Havana, Cuba. Bordered on the east by Calzada de Infanta and Central Havana, and on the west by the Alemendares River and Miramar / Playa distric ...
district of Havana on January 25, 1944, two days after her 40th birthday. She was buried in the Aurelia Castillo family vault at
Colon Cemetery, Havana
El Cementerio de Cristóbal Colón, also called La Necrópolis de Cristóbal Colón, was founded in 1876 in the Vedado neighbourhood of Havana, Cuba to replace the Espada Cemetery in the Barrio de San Lázaro. Named for Christopher Columbus, t ...
.
Notes
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vanderbilt, Cathleen
1904 births
1944 deaths
Cathleen
Cathleen is a feminine given name in the English language. It is a variant form of '' Kathleen''. Notable people with the name include:
* Cathleen Chaffee, American curator, art historian, writer
* Cathleen Falsani, American journalist and writer ...
American people of Dutch descent
American people of English descent
American people of Welsh descent