Judith Anne Peabody (née Walker, formerly Dunnington; May 6, 1930 – July 25, 2010) was an American

socialite A socialite is a person from a wealthy and (possibly) aristocratic background, who is prominent in high society. A socialite generally spends a significant amount of time attending various fashionable social gatherings, instead of having traditio ...

and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

who was best known for her involvement as a volunteer with causes ranging from the legal defense of

Lenny Bruce Leonard Alfred Schneider (October 13, 1925 – August 3, 1966), known professionally as Lenny Bruce, was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, and satirist. He was renowned for his open, free-wheeling, and critical style of comedy which ...

to assisting families with

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

Biography

Judith Anne Walker was born on May 6, 1930 in

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

.Weber, Bruce
"Judith Peabody, Socialite and Volunteer, Dies at 80"
''

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 ...

'', July 27, 2010. Accessed July 27, 2010. After her parents were divorced, her mother, Elizabeth Taylor Walker, married attorney Walter Grey Dunnington at a January 1937 ceremony conducted in the bride's apartment at the

Carlyle Hotel The Carlyle Hotel, known formally as The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel, is a combination luxury apartment hotel located at 35 East 76th Street on the northeast corner of Madison Avenue and East 76th Street, on the Upper East Side of New York City. O ...

, where the couple would continue to live. She attended Miss Hewitt's Classes 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 ...

and the

Ethel Walker School The Ethel Walker School, also commonly referred to as “Walker’s”, is a private, college preparatory, boarding and day school for girls in grades 6 through 12 plus postgraduate located in Simsbury, Connecticut. History Founded in 1911, ...

Simsbury, Connecticut Simsbury is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 24,517 at the 2020 census. The town was incorporated as Connecticut's 21st town in May 1670. History Early history At the beginning of the 17th century, the ...

and was introduced to society in September 1947 at the

Piping Rock Club Piping Rock Club is a country club in Matinecock, New York. It falls within the ZIP Code boundaries of Locust Valley, New York. History The Piping Rock clubhouse was designed by American designer Guy Lowell and built in 1911. Lowell based his ...

Locust Valley, New York Locust Valley is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) located in the Oyster Bay (town), New York, Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on the North Shore (Long Island), North Shore of Long Island ...

. She was a member of the

Colony Club The Colony Club is a women-only private social club in New York City. Founded in 1903 by Florence Jaffray Harriman, wife of J. Borden Harriman, as the first social club established in New York City by and for women, it was modeled on similar ...

and the New York Junior League. She met her future husband at a dinner party and they were engaged a week later. After her future husband picked her up for a date at a youth center for juvenile delinquents where she had been working, she pleaded with him not to tell her mother where she had been, saying "she thinks I'm having French lessons". After two years at

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United St ...

, she married Samuel Parkman Peabody at St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church in Manhattan in a ceremony officiated by the groom's father, Malcolm Endicott Peabody, a Bishop of the

Episcopal Diocese of Central New York The Episcopal Diocese of Central New York is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America encompassing the area in the center of New York state. It is one of ten dioceses, plus the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe, ...

.Staff
"Judith Dunnington Is Wed to S.P. Peabody; His Father Officiates in St. Bartholomew's; COUPLE MARRIED HERE YESTERDAY"
''

'', April 1, 1951. Accessed July 27, 2010. A notable socialite in Manhattan who was frequently mentioned in the press, she was known for wearing clothing designed for her by

Bill Blass William Ralph Blass (June 22, 1922 – June 12, 2002) was an American fashion designer. He was the recipient of many fashion awards, including seven Coty Awards and the Fashion Institute of Technology's Lifetime Achievement Award (1999). Early ...

and

Donald Brooks Donald Brooks (January 9, 1928 – August 1, 2005) was an American fashion designer and creator of the "American Look" founded in the 1950s and 1960s. He had an immense passion for stage and film, designing well over 3500 costumes. His effo ...

, with the latter once saying that "she epitomizes the simplicity of our type of customer". Peabody was active in causes ranging from serving on the board of the

New York Shakespeare Festival Shakespeare in the Park (or Free Shakespeare in the Park) is a theatrical program that stages productions of Shakespearean plays at the Delacorte Theater, an open-air theater in New York City's Central Park. The theater and the productions are ...

and the

Dance Theatre of Harlem Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH) is an American professional ballet company and school based in Harlem, New York City. It was founded in 1969 under the directorship of Arthur Mitchell and later partnered with Karel Shook. Milton Rosenstock served a ...

, and was a patron of the

American Ballet Theatre American Ballet Theatre (ABT) is a classical ballet company based in New York City. Founded in 1939 by Lucia Chase and Richard Pleasant, it is recognized as one of the world's leading classical ballet companies. Through 2019, it had an annual ei ...

. After reading an article about the legal troubles faced by comedian

in the 1960s, she sent him a contribution towards the costs of his legal defense and assisted him with research. She earned a certificate in psychology from the

Postgraduate Center for Mental Health The Postgraduate Center for Mental Health (PGCMH) is an organization that provides mental healthcare services in New York City. It was founded in 1945 by psychiatrist Lewis Wolberg to provide psychological care to World War II veterans. Currently ...

and established Reality House together with her husband, as an organization in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...

dedicated to assisting heroin addicts who were trying to overcome their addiction. Three mornings each week she led groups of heroin users who were trying to deal with the personal issues that led to their addiction. The organization operated from a network of storefronts and established programs at two maximum security prisons, reaching out to over 250 participants. As of 1971, 50 former addicts who had undergone the intensive 18-month program of counseling and work therapy had completed the program and none of them returned to using drugs. She also worked with the Renegades Housing Movement, which had started as a youth gang and was attempting to focus its efforts on social activism in

East Harlem East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem or and historically known as Italian Harlem, is a neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, New York City, roughly encompassing the area north of the Upper East Side and bounded by 96th Street to the south, F ...

, where they worked on renovating a deteriorating building. After a friend died of AIDS, Peabody became involved at the

Gay Men's Health Crisis The GMHC (formerly Gay Men's Health Crisis) is a New York City–based non-profit, volunteer-supported and community-based AIDS service organization whose mission statement is to "end the AIDS epidemic and uplift the lives of all affected." Hist ...

, where she helped raise funds for the organization and conducted support groups. Marjorie J. Hill, chief executive of GMHC, described Peabody as "someone who recognized the challenge of AIDS long before it was fashionable" who "did everything she could, on a personal level and an institutional level, to combat the stigma of the disease". In 1987, Richard Dunne, executive director of the Gay Men's Health Crisis, compared her influence to that of

Betty Ford Elizabeth Anne Ford (; formerly Warren; April 8, 1918 – July 8, 2011) was the first lady of the United States from 1974 to 1977, as the wife of President Gerald Ford. As first lady, she was active in social policy and set a precedent as a pol ...

alcoholism Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol (drug), alcohol that results in significant Mental health, mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognize ...

, saying that "when Judy Peabody talks about AIDS, it gets people attention". As part of her volunteering at GMHC, she served as the care partner for ten people with AIDS, and would drop everything to attend to them in cases of need, saying her "number one concern is always my friends who have AIDS", whom she would often visit in the hospital. She was an active fundraiser for GMHC, as well as with the

People With AIDS People With AIDS (PWA) means " person with HIV/AIDS", also sometimes phrased as, Person Living with AIDS. It is a term of self-empowerment, adopted by those with the virus in the early years of the pandemic (the 1980s), as an alternative to the p ...

Coalition, care programs at

Saint Vincent's Catholic Medical Center Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers of New York d/b/a as Saint Vincent's Catholic Medical Centers (Saint Vincent's, or SVCMC) was a healthcare system, anchored by its flagship hospital, St. Vincent's Hospital Manhattan, locally referred to a ...

and the development of an AIDS research laboratory at

New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

.Brozan, Nadine
"A COMPASSIONATE FORCE IN THE AIDS BATTLE"
''

'', April 13, 1987. Accessed July 27, 2010. Peabody died at age 80 on July 25, 2010, at her apartment on

Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major and prominent thoroughfare in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It stretches north from Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village to West 143rd Street in Harlem. It is one of the most expensive shopping stre ...

, due to complications of a series of

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

s that she had suffered in previous years. She was survived by her husband and a daughter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peabody, Judith 1930 births 2010 deaths Philanthropists from New York (state) American socialites Bryn Mawr College alumni People from the Upper East Side People from Richmond, Virginia Hewitt School alumni 20th-century American philanthropists