Charlotte Mailliard Shultz ( Smith; September 26, 1933 – December 3, 2021) was a socialite, and philanthropist. She was the Chief of Protocol for the state of

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, and the Chief of Protocol for the

City and County of San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. She was married to former

United States Secretary of State The United States secretary of state is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The office holder is one of the highest ranking members of the president's Ca ...

George P. Shultz George Pratt Shultz (; December 13, 1920February 6, 2021) was an American economist, businessman, diplomat and statesman. He served in various positions under two different Republican presidents and is one of the only two persons to have held fou ...

, from 1997 until his death in 2021. Mailliard Shultz was President of the board of the War Memorial Performing Arts Center and a member of the boards of the San Francisco Symphony, Grace Cathedral, the

Commonwealth Club of California The Commonwealth Club of California is a non-profit, non-partisan educational organization based in Northern California. Founded in 1903, it is the oldest and largest public affairs forum in the United States. Membership is open to everyone. Act ...

, and the

San Francisco Ballet San Francisco Ballet is the oldest ballet company in the United States, founded in 1933 as the San Francisco Opera Ballet under the leadership of ballet master Adolph Bolm. The company is currently based in the War Memorial Opera House, San Fra ...

. A native

Texan Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by bo ...

, Mailliard Shultz often quipped about San Francisco, "... if I don't pay my dues, they may send me back to Texas!"

Early life and education

Born Charlotte Smith on September 26, 1933, in

Borger, Texas Borger ( ) is the largest city in Hutchinson County, Texas, United States. The population was 12,551 at the 2020 census. Borger is named for businessman Asa Philip "Ace" Borger, who also established the Hutchinson County seat of Stinnett ...

, the daughter of Martha Morgan and Charles Samuel Smith, Jr., who ran the local general store. She graduated from the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...

with a degree in

fashion design Fashion design is the art of applying design, aesthetics, clothing construction and natural beauty to clothing and its accessories. It is influenced by culture and different trends, and has varied over time and place. "A fashion designer creates ...

marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...

, and merchandising.

Career

In her role as Chief of Protocol for San Francisco, Mailliard had been called the "city's premier party-giver" by the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The ...

''. Her role as Chief of Protocol began as a volunteer for then-San Francisco mayor

Jack Shelley John Francis Shelley (September 3, 1905 – September 1, 1974) was a U.S. politician. He served as the 35th mayor of San Francisco, from 1964 to 1968, the first Democrat elected to the office in 50 years, and the first in an unbroken lin ...

and spanned seven mayoral administrations until mayor

Frank Jordan Francis Michael Jordan (born February 20, 1935) is an American politician and former police chief, who served as mayor of San Francisco from 1992 to 1996. He is a Democrat. Early life and education Jordan was born in San Francisco in 1935 and ...

's term. Jordan chose Richard Goldman as his Chief of Protocol. Mayor Willie Brown re-appointed Mailliard to the post in 1996. In total, she served as Chief of Protocol for eight mayoral administrations and during that time brought back the city's ''Black and White Ball'', organized the 50th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge with the Golden Gate Bridge Walk (where one million pedestrians walked across the bridge), and welcomed British royalty and

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

on their visits to the city. In 2003, in San Francisco, a surprise party was held to honor her work on behalf of the city. Baseball legend

Willie Mays Willie Howard Mays Jr. (born May 6, 1931), nicknamed "the Say Hey Kid" and "Buck", is a former center fielder in Major League Baseball (MLB). Regarded as one of the greatest players ever, Mays ranks second behind only Babe Ruth on most all-tim ...

, mayor

Gavin Newsom Gavin Christopher Newsom (born October 10, 1967) is an American politician and businessman who has been the 40th governor of California since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 49th lieutenant governor of California f ...

, and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and his then wife

Maria Shriver Maria Owings Shriver (born November 6, 1955) is an American journalist, author, a member of the Kennedy family, former First Lady of California, and the founder of the nonprofit organization The Women's Alzheimer's Movement. She was married to ...

were in attendance. It was announced that the staircase of

San Francisco City Hall San Francisco City Hall is the seat of government for the City and County of San Francisco, California. Re-opened in 1915 in its open space area in the city's Civic Center, it is a Beaux-Arts monument to the City Beautiful movement that epitomi ...

would be known as the ''Charlotte Mailliard Shultz Staircase''. In 2004, Governor Schwarzenegger appointed her as Chief of Protocol for the State of California.

Personal life

After moving to San Francisco, Mailliard met her first husband, John Ward Mailliard III, who died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

in 1986. In 1988, she married

Melvin Swig Melvin Morse Swig (July 31, 1917 – May 14, 1993)

, owner of the Fairmont Hotel. As a couple, Melvin and Charlotte donated and raised numerous funds for building the new

San Francisco Public Library The San Francisco Public Library is the public library system of the city and county of San Francisco. The Main Library is located at Civic Center, at 100 Larkin Street. The library system has won several awards, such as '' Library Journals ...

. Melvin Swig died in 1993. Mailliard's marriage, at age 63, to former Secretary of State George Shultz, a widower, at Grace Cathedral in 1997, was considered San Francisco's "social event of the year". He gave her a

diamond Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, ...

sapphire Sapphire is a precious gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of aluminium oxide () with trace amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, chromium, vanadium, or magnesium. The name sapphire is derived via the Latin "sa ...

and

ruby A ruby is a pinkish red to blood-red colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum ( aluminium oxide). Ruby is one of the most popular traditional jewelry gems and is very durable. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called ...

engagement ring.Shultz and socialite wed in San Francisco
, deseretnews.com; accessed August 26, 2015. (caption only) The cost of the reception at the Sheraton Palace Hotel was over $4,000,000 and featured entertainment from singer Billy Joel. Guests included Nancy Reagan, California governor

Pete Wilson Peter Barton Wilson (born August 23, 1933) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 36th governor of California from 1991 to 1999. A member of the Republican Party, he also served as a United States senator from California betw ...

, and

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

Nancy Pelosi. The couple continued to be actively involved in San Francisco social events, such as hosting receptions at their Russian Hill penthouse on top of The Summit for a group of U.S. and foreign diplomats in 2015. Mailliard Shultz died from cancer at her home in

Stanford, California Stanford is a census-designated place (CDP) in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is the home of Stanford University. The population was 21,150 at the 2020 census. Stanford is an unincorporated area of ...

, on December 3, 2021, at the age of 88. Her husband, George, had died 10 months earlier at the age of 100.

Honors

In 2007, she was named Honorary Commander of the

Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, or ...

(CVO) by Queen Elizabeth II.Caroline Bigelo
SWELLS
, May 13, 2007.

References

External links

*

Weddings, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

''; accessed 5 December 2021.
"The High Priestess of Partydom / Charlotte Mailliard Swig, San Francisco's once and future chief of protocol, is back on top as the city's arbiter of style"
sfgate.com, February 4, 1996; accessed 5 December 2021. {{DEFAULTSORT:Shultz, Charlotte Mailliard 1933 births 2021 deaths 20th-century American women 21st-century American philanthropists 21st-century American women American diplomats American socialites American women diplomats American women philanthropists Deaths from cancer in California Honorary Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order People from Borger, Texas People from Stanford, California People from San Francisco Swig family University of Arkansas alumni American philanthropists 21st-century women philanthropists