The ensuing child-custody battle in State Supreme Court in New York riveted and scandalized the nation for 13 weeks in 1934 with lurid testimony of a mothers greed, debauchery and cold indifference to the girl accounts magnified by hearsay evidence and sensationalized reports in the tabloid press. ', Gossip columnists decried that Morgan was 'a cocktail-crazed dancing mother, a devotee of sex erotica, and the mistress of a German prince.'. Despite his enormous wealth, money did not buy Corneliusrespectability among the old guard in Washington Square Park. Angel Mendez (1946-1967) - US Marine awarded the Navy Cross for his death in Vietnam War; raised at Mount Loretto; Joseph F. Merrell (1926-1945) . Gloria Vanderbilt jeans soon became a $100 million-a-year business, with skirts, sweaters, jackets, linens and fragrances joining her growing product lines. In 1903 Reginald married Cathleen Nelson. By then he had taken an interest young Cathleen's teenage friend from the debutante circuit. She made a dazzling entrance at her sister-in-law Alva's legendary costume ball dressed as a lightbulb (right). Little Glorias mother said she had a right to defend herself in public. After her father's death 18 months later, Vanderbilt inherited a $4.7 million trust fund. As an adult, Cornie proved to be just as much of a embarrassment when hedidn't share his father's hunger for moneymaking, nor his talent for it. The Vanderbilts had the money, but they didn't have the politesse. Ms. Dukakiss loft, at 684 Broadway, sold for the $4.3 million asking price. In its place today stands a 41-story office building that was owned by Jared Kushner until 2018, In 1895, Cornelius II and Alicespent $7 million ($220 million today's money) building The Breakers in Newport, Rhode Island. When Gloria testified, the judge cleared the courtroom. His primary purpose in life, Cooper says, 'was to consume.' didn't share his father's hunger for moneymaking, nor his talent for it. The scandalous custody battle between the - New York Daily News Her maternal uncles were George Whiting Flagg, a painter,[3] and Jared Bradley Flagg, a real estate developer and also a painter. Her father was a philandering drinker and gambler who frittered away his $7.3 million inheritance and died when Gloria was just 15 months old. Dressed as a Venetian princess, Alva received her guests wearing a rope of pearls that belonged to Catherine the Great wrapped around her waist (right), The same year William Henry Vanderbilt died at the age of 64, his two eldest sons Willie Kissam and Cornelius II (left) each inherited $65 million ($1.7 billion today). Always in financial straits, Cornie repeatedly leaned onhis famous last name to procure loans which he squandered on his fondness for drinking, gambling and prostitutes. Cooper writes: 'Reggie hemorrhaged blood so explosively out of his mouth at the moment of his death that when his wife arrived two minutes too late to see him, Alice wouldn't let her in the room. Vanderbilt was born in New York City, the third son of Cornelius Vanderbilt II (1843-1899) and Alice Claypoole Gwynne (1845-1934). They were divorced in 1963. This was just below the $12.9 million listing price. [15], In August 1932, ten days after her divorce from Cushing, she married CBS radio executive Lawrence Wise Lowman (19001980) at the court house in Hempstead, Long Island. Invitations werelimited to only the most elite. Starting in the 1870s, William Henry Vanderbilt leveraged his enormous wealth to land himself and his children on New York's social map. Daniel H. Schulman, who runs PayPal, bought a SoHo apartment. Death Date: September 4, 1925(1925-09-04) (aged 45) Portsmouth, Rhode Island, U.S. . The. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Colford of Newport, Was Divorced By His Wife Last Month. Then, on Sept. 25, 1934, Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt filed a writ claiming that Whitney had spirited away her daughter while the girl was feeding birds in Central Park and was holding her captive. In Midtown, the Mendelsohns paid almost $15.1 million for an apartment at Central Park Tower, at 217 West 57th Street, the latest addition by Extell Development to Billionaires Row. Ms. Vanderbilt, born in Manhattan on Feb. 20, 1924, was the only child of Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt and his second wife, Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt. Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt - Wikipedia She and her husband donated Vanderbilt Hall to Yale College in memory of their eldest son, Bill, a student there when he died in 1892. She had two lives: one as a respectable pearl-laden grand-dame of society and the other as a bohemian downtown artist, 'who took whatever lovers she wanted, men or women,' writes Cooper. Before he died in 1920, he told the New York Times, 'My life was never destined to be quite happy. Ms. Vanderbilt recalled golden summers in the 1970s with Mr. Cooper, whom she called Daddy, and their sons in Southampton: Anderson and Carter bringing in wildflowers and eliciting stories from their mothers childhood, which she idealized. vanderbilt family treeMenu. The 12-story Renaissance Revival building, built in 1905 and once a warehouse, sits at the corner of Broadway and Great Jones Street in the NoHo Historic District. Cathleen Vanderbilt Arostegui (1904-1944) - Find a Grave She seldom wrote to me or inquired about the baby.. It is as certain a death to ambition as cocaine is to morality.'. They were married on February 4, 1867, at the Church of the Incarnation on Madison Avenue in New York. Reginald Vanderbilt on the other hand decided to enjoy life by becoming an equestrian, and belonged to a number of equestrian organizations. Her mother left her with a nanny and partied across Europe on her money for years. He Won Distinction as Soldier, Inventor, Engineer, Yachtsman. Ms. Vanderbilt with her fourth husband, Wyatt Cooper, a writer, in 1965. But the deal for 39 East 72nd Street, a landmark, neo-Grecian building near Central Park, didnt quite go as initially planned for the investors that bought it in 2014. She said Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt caroused at all hours with a film actress, that her lovers sometimes spent the night and that magazines with pictures of nude men and women were tossed carelessly about the house.. This article was published more than3 years ago. Before her parents' eventual divorce in 1920, they separated and she continued to live with her mother. Mr. di Cicco beat Gloria often, and they were divorced in 1945. She was the only daughter of Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt (1880-1925) and his first wife, Cathleen (ne Neilson; 1885-1927). She devoted herself exclusively to her own pleasures. The couple divorced in 1920. Great-Grandson and Namesake of Commodore Succumbs in Miami to Brain Hemorrhage. Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt Biography - Facts, Childhood, Family Life In a new book titled, Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, turns a journalistic eye on his own family by raising the velvet curtain on the private lives, immense tragedies, and enormous glamour of the storied and scandalous American dynasty. Gabriel Byrne received close to the asking price for his NoLIta apartment. Eventually the Four Hundred list was published in the form of a 'blue book,' which persists today as the Social Register. Thelma is later credited for introducing Edward to Wallis Simpson. He was the youngest son of Cornelius Vanderbilt II (18431899) and Alice Claypoole Gwynne (18451934). Critics generally applauded. Ms. Vanderbilt had two children with Mr. Cooper. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. She had affairs with Errol Flynn, Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, Howard Hughes and Marlon Brando. H.P. Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt was born on January 14, 1880, in Manhattan, New York. By 11:30pm a bouillabaisse of kings, queens, fairies, toreadors, and gypsiesbejeweled and bedecked in silks and furs and ropes of diamonds had descended upon Fifth Avenue. holds the record for the largest private residence ever built in New York City. Besides several novels, many short stories and books on collages and home design, she wrote a series of memoirs, including Black Knight, White Knight (1987), on her first and second marriages, and A Mothers Story (1995), about harsh events in her life, particularly Carters suicide in 1988. H.P. Another elder brother, Alfred, inherited the bulk of the family fortune, though Reginald and several sisters also received some inheritance. TheKnickerbockers, Schermerhorns and Lorillards found the tobacco chewing, philandering, profanity-prone, illiterate as vulgar. 'Wittingly or not,' said Cooper in the book, 'the Vanderbilts paid homage to the past while single-mindedly lighting the path of the future of societyher torch and tiara preceded the Statue of Liberty by three years.' He Won Distinction as Soldier, Inventor, Engineer, Yachtsman. It was demolished in 1926 to make way for the Bergdorf Goodman flagship store, but the home stillholds the record for the largest private residence ever built in New York City. H.P. Her father was a sportsman-playboy who had squandered much of his own $25 million inheritance. For weekly email updates on residential real estate news, sign up here. She largely subordinated herself to her husbands career, which often took him away on tours, but her outgoing persona re-emerged in 1954. Completed in 1888, the mock Petit Trianon cost $11 million to build, ($310million in today's money). Often Host to Royalty", "VANDERBILT WEDDING APRIL 15; Reginald Vanderbilt to be Married to Miss Cathleen Neilson in Newport", "Mr. and Mrs. Vanderbilt Elude the Curious by Leaving Their Train at Roxbury Crossing", "Famous Newport Villa May Be Sold for Taxes; R.C. Vanderbilt family - Wikipedia The controversial will led to a sensational trial that aired all the Vanderbilt's dirty laundry. The Upper East Side mansion, which has been divided into three luxury units, narrowly avoided foreclosure and sold for $32.2 million, the top sale in March. [1] Alice's siblings included David Eli Gwynne, Abram Evan Gwynne, Cettie Moore (ne Gwynne) Shepherd, and Edith Olivia (ne Gwynne) Gill.[2]. On February 20, 1924, Gloria Morgan gave birth to Gloria Laura Morgan Vanderbilt. Gertrude Vanderbilt was born on January 9, 1875, in New York City, the second daughter of Cornelius Vanderbilt II (1843-1899) and Alice Claypoole Gwynne (1852-1934), and a great-granddaughter of "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt.Her older sister died before Gertrude was born, but she grew up with several brothers and a younger sister. He remarried in 1923 with Gloria Morgan with whom he had a second daughter, Gloria Laura Vanderbilt in 1924. Guggenheim Guided His Start. She retained a smaller allowance for Glorias maintenance, but lost rights to the girls trust fund. Her name was Gloria Morgan and they were married three years later. He gambled away most of his inheritance. 'His rise was dizzying,' said Cooper of his great-great-great grandfather. He gambled away most of his inheritance. The family fortunewasn't made until the nineteenth century when Cornelius 'Commodore' Vanderbilt, an upstart from Staten Island who quit school at the age of 11 began working in his father's ferry business. 'I was not really aware at all,' he says, of his family history, Cornelius 'Commodore' Vanderbilt was an upstart from Staten Island who quit school at the age of 11 began working in his father's ferry business. Newspapers called her a poor little rich girl. Inside the Custody Battle for 10-Year-Old Heiress Gloria Vanderbilt Ms. Vanderbilts 2004 memoir, It Seemed Important at the Time, reminisced at length on her affairs with Brando, Sinatra, Kelly, Hughes and other Hollywood legends. Next door to the Triple Palace stood William 'Willie' Kissam and Alva's 'Petit Chateau' at 660 Fifth Avenue. In the mid-1970s, when jeans were cut mostly for men, the clothing manufacturer Mohan Murjani signed Ms. Vanderbilt to market jeans for women with her signature on the back pocket. Then he shifted attention to trains when he bought up local railroads and merged them into a vast transportation network that stretched across the United States. Luxury and lust in the heat & dust:They had hundreds of Parties and privilege: How the glamorous Cushing sisters respectability among the old guard in Washington Square Park. He was the father of Gloria Vanderbilt and maternal grandfather of Anderson Cooper. Ms. Vanderbilt in her painting studio in 2009. Scandal defined Gloria's early life. Mr. Schulman of PayPal paid $8.6 million for a 4,164-square-foot apartment at 30 Crosby Street, a seven-story brick building that once housed a corset manufacturer. Gertrude received the proceeds from the sale of 1 West 57th Street, totaling $7,000,000.