Nancy Sharon Kissinger (''

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

'' Maginnes; born April 13, 1934) is an American philanthropist and Rockefeller political aide, and the widow of former U.S. Secretary of State

Henry Kissinger Henry Alfred Kissinger (May 27, 1923 – November 29, 2023) was an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 56th United States secretary of state from 1973 to 1977 and the 7th National Security Advisor (United States), natio ...

. The couple married on March 30, 1974, in

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County, or simply Arlington, is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Virginia. The county is located in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from Washington, D.C., the nati ...

Life and career

Nancy Maginnes was born in Manhattan and raised in

White Plains, New York White Plains is a city in and the county seat of Westchester County, New York, United States. It is an inner suburb of New York City, and a commercial hub of Westchester County, a densely populated suburban county that is home to about one milli ...

. She attended The Masters School in

Dobbs Ferry, New York Dobbs Ferry is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 10,875 according to the 2010 United States Census. In 2021, its population rose to an estimated 11,456. The ...

. Her parents were Agnes (born McKinley) and Albert Bristol Maginnes, a wealthy lawyer and football player. She received a B.A. in history in 1955 from

Mount Holyoke College Mount Holyoke College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in South Hadley, Massachusetts, United States. It is the oldest member of the h ...

and later took a sabbatical from her Rockefeller research job to study at the Sorbonne in the late 1960s. Before her marriage, she was a long-time aide to

New York Governor The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor ha ...

Nelson Rockefeller Nelson Aldrich "Rocky" Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979) was the 41st vice president of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford. He was also the 49th governor of New York, serving from 1959 to 197 ...

, recommended to him in 1964 by Kissinger, then a professor at Harvard, where she was a student. Her first job was as Kissinger's researcher on a Rockefeller task force; she continued working for Rockefeller at the

Rockefeller Brothers Fund The Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF) is a philanthropic foundation created and run by members of the Rockefeller family. It was founded in New York City in 1940 as the primary philanthropic vehicle for the five third-generation Rockefeller brothe ...

after the task force finished its work. She was notably one of the tallest female public figures of her era, at 6'0" (183cm) tall. She later became director of international studies for Rockefeller's Commission on Critical Choices for Americans.

References

* "Nancy Maginnes Kissinger." Almanac of Famous People, 9th ed.

Thomson Gale Gale is a global provider of research and digital learning resources. The company is based in Farmington Hills, Michigan, United States, west of Detroit. It has been a division of Cengage since 2007. The company, formerly known as Gale Research a ...

, 2007. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center.

Farmington Hills, Michigan Farmington Hills is a city in Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. A northwestern Metro Detroit, suburb of Detroit, Farmington Hills is located roughly from downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 United States censu ...

Gale A gale is a strong wind; the word is typically used as a descriptor in nautical contexts. The U.S. National Weather Service defines a gale as sustained surface wind moving at a speed between .

, 2009. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC. Document Number: K1601047266. Fee, via Fairfax County Public Library. Accessed 2009-11-17/

External links

Interview on her visit with Bess W. Truman in 1975, in Independence, Missouri, with her husband
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Nancy and father Albert Bristol Maginnes
1934 births 20th-century American women 21st-century American women Harvard University alumni Henry Kissinger Living people Mount Holyoke College alumni People from Kent, Connecticut Philanthropists from Manhattan People from White Plains, New York Philanthropists from New York (state) The Masters School alumni {{philanthropist-stub