Marjorie Merriweather Post

Marjorie Merriweather Post

Marjorie Merriweather Post was an American businesswoman, socialite, philanthropist, and owner of General Foods, Inc. She is also known for her mansion, Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida, which following her death eventually became a resort owned by Donald Trump. She used much of her fortune to collect art, particularly pre-revolutionary Russian art, much of which is now on display at Hillwood, the museum which was her estate in Washington, D. C.

About Marjorie Merriweather Post in brief

Summary Marjorie Merriweather PostMarjorie Merriweather Post was an American businesswoman, socialite, philanthropist, and owner of General Foods, Inc. She is also known for her mansion, Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida, which following her death eventually became a resort owned by Donald Trump. She used much of her fortune to collect art, particularly pre-revolutionary Russian art, much of which is now on display at Hillwood, the museum which was her estate in Washington, D. C. Some of Post’s jewelry, bequeathed to the Smithsonian Institution, is displayed in the Harry Winston exhibit. During the 1930s, the Soviet government under Joseph Stalin began selling art treasures and other valuables seized from the former Russian aristocrats after the Russian Revolution. Post funded a U.S. Army hospital in France during World War I, and, decades later, the French government awarded her the Legion of Honour, in the degree of Commander.

She was among the first three recipients of the Silver Fawn Award, presented by the Boy Scouts of America. Post served as the honorary house mother of the college’s first local fraternity, Sigma Beta Epsilon, which, in 1969, became the New York Beta chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon. In 1966, at Long Island University Post, became honorary housemother of Zeta Beta Tau’s Gamma Delta chapter, often hosting the fraternity brothers for brunches. She gifted USD 100,000 to the National Cultural Center in Washington that would later become the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The MerriWeather Post Pavilion, an outdoor concert venue in Columbia, Maryland, is named for her.