Mary Lillian Duke Biddle (November 16, 1887 – June 14, 1960) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

philanthropist.

Early life

She was born as Mary Lillian Duke on November 16, 1887, to

Benjamin Newton Duke Benjamin Newton Duke (April 25, 1855 – January 8, 1929) was an American tobacco, textile and energy industrialist and philanthropist. He served as vice-president at American Tobacco Company, being also founder of Duke Energy. Life and career He ...

Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...

. She attended Durham's Trinity College, the institutional predecessor of

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

, which was named in honor of her family. She graduated in 1907 with a degree in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

. She was a great enthusiast for the arts and traveled frequently with her family to New York City for the theater and opera, later becoming an accomplished singer and musician. In 1912 she was engaged to Prince Ludovic Pignatelli d'Aragon, an Italian nobleman, who tried to kill himself after the marriage was cancelled. Around 1918, she was given her father's brick-and-limestone Beaux-Arts townhouse 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 ...

at 82nd Street. It was built in 1901 and is now known as the Benjamin N. Duke House. It is one of only nine surviving mansions on Fifth Avenue.

Marriage and later life

Her marriage to

Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle Jr. Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle Jr. (December 17, 1897 – November 13, 1961) was an American diplomat who served as ambassador to several countries between the 1930s and 1961. He served in the United States Army during World War I and after World Wa ...

in 1915 ended in divorce in 1931. Their children were

Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans (February 21, 1920 – January 25, 2012) was an American heiress, activist, politician, and philanthropist. She was the granddaughter of Benjamin N. Duke and the great-granddaughter of Washington Duke, both tob ...

and Nicholas Benjamin Duke Biddle. She and her husband owned an estate, "Linden Court", in

Tarrytown, New York Tarrytown is a village in the town of Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, approximately north of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by a stop on the Metro-North ...

, bought from the William R. Harris family in 1921. It still stands today as the Tarrytown House Estate and Conference Center."History Center at Dolce Tarrytown House"
, ''Half Moon Press'' newspaper, November, 2003 issue She established the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation in 1956. Since then, the foundation has donated more than $28 million in grants to non-profit organizations. The Foundation commissioned American composer

Norman Dello Joio Norman Dello Joio (January 24, 1913July 24, 2008) was an American composer active for over half a century. He won a 1957 Pulitzer Prize#Letters, Drama, Pulitzer Prize in 1957. Life Dello Joio was born Nicodemo DeGioio in New York City to It ...

to write a piece for the Duke University Band and its conductor Paul Bryan titled ''Variants on a Medieval Tune'' based on the melody

In dulci jubilo "In dulci jubilo" (Latin for "In sweet rejoicing") is a traditional Christmas carol. In its original setting, the carol is a macaronic text of German and Latin dating from the Middle Ages. Subsequent translations into English, such as J. M. N ...

. It was first performed on April 10, 1963. The

Mary Duke Biddle Estate Mary Duke Biddle Estate, also known as the James O. Cobb House, is a historic home and estate located at Durham, Durham County, North Carolina. The main house "Pinecrest" is a Tudor Revival style dwelling built in 1927, with additions and inte ...

, was her home from 1935 until her death in 1960. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2013.

Notes

External links

The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Biddle, Mary Duke American philanthropists Duke University Trinity College of Arts and Sciences alumni Duke family Mary Duke 1887 births 1960 deaths People from Durham, North Carolina American people of English descent