Mollie Wilmot (née Netcher; May 9, 1923 – September 17, 2002) was an American philanthropist and socialite.

Biography

The younger child (of two daughters) born to Charles Netcher Jr. and Gladys ( Oliver) Netcher, Wilmot spent her formative years in Europe where she studied art and achieved fluency in French. She graduated from

Foxcroft School Foxcroft School, founded in 1914 by Charlotte Haxall Noland, is a college-preparatory boarding and day school for girls in grades 9-12 & PG, located near Middleburg, Virginia, United States. In its century of existence, Foxcroft has educat ...

, a bucolic preparatory school in northern Virginia. Her grandmother, Mollie Netcher Newbury, launched her career at the Boston Store as a clerk and underwear buyer and was dubbed the 'Merchant Princess' in her position as owner of the Chicago department store. Wilmot divided her time between an apartment at

The Pierre The Pierre is a luxury hotel located at 2 61st Street (Manhattan), East 61st Street, at the intersection of that street with Fifth Avenue, in Manhattan, New York City, facing Central Park. Designed by Schultze and Weaver, Schultze & Weaver, th ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, an oceanfront mansion next to the

Kennedy Kennedy may refer to: People * Kennedy (surname), including any of several people with that surname ** Kennedy family, a prominent American political family that includes: *** Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. (1888–1969), American businessman, investor, ...

estate stretching along prestigious North Ocean Blvd. on

Palm Beach, Florida Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. Located on a barrier island in east-central Palm Beach County, the town is separated from West Palm Beach, Florida, West Palm Beach and Lake Worth Beach, Florida, ...

and a sprawling colonial property in

Saratoga Springs, New York Saratoga Springs is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The population was 28,491 at the United States Census 2020, 2020 census. The name reflects the presence of mineral springs in the ...

, boasting to '' The Times Union'' in 1998 that she had been born at the Ritz Hotel in Paris "feet first, six weeks early and with all my eyelashes." Mollie was married three times, all of which ended in divorce. In 1947, she was married to Edward Albert Bragno (1910–1986). They divorced in 1960, and the following week, she was married to Albert Carlton Bostwick III (b. 1939), a son of Albert C. Bostwick Jr. and nephew of

Pete Bostwick George Herbert "Pete" Bostwick (August 14, 1909 – January 13, 1982) was an American court tennis player, a steeplechase jockey and horse trainer, and an eight-goal polo player. Biography He was born in Bisby Lake, New York to Marie L. Stokes ...

. The wedding, which took place at her home in Chicago, was performed by Judge Julius Hoffman and the best man was New York attorney

Roy Cohn Roy Marcus Cohn ( ; February 20, 1927 – August 2, 1986) was an American lawyer and prosecutor. He first gained fame as a prosecutor of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg in their trials (1952–53) and as Senator Joseph McCarthy's chief counsel duri ...

. They divorced in 1967, and in 1970, she married Paul Wilmot Jr.

The ''Mercedes I''

Wilmot soared to prominence in 1984 the day after Thanksgiving when a 197-foot freighter, MV ''Mercedes I'', carrying ten Venezuelan sailors crashed into the seawall of her oceanfront Palm Beach mansion. Wilmot's staff served the sailors sandwiches and freshly brewed coffee in her gazebo and showered martinis upon journalists and photographers. The incident received national and international coverage.

Philanthropy

In her role as society hostess, Wilmot hosted an annual

Sotheby's Sotheby's ( ) is a British-founded multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine art, fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

cocktail party to benefit equine research at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

. Wilmot bequeathed a generous portion of her estate to the Palm Healthcare Pavilion, which endowed the Mollie Wilmot Children's Center located in

West Palm Beach, Florida West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, Florida, Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lag ...

and the Mollie Wilmot Radiation Oncology Center based in Saratoga Springs, New York. She also contributed to the

New York City Ballet New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company's fir ...

, The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame and the National Museum of Dance and equine research at the Veterinary College of Cornell University.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilmot, Mollie 1923 births 2002 deaths 20th-century American philanthropists Foxcroft School alumni American expatriates in France People from Chicago