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Ot me pancreas aiiw -.........suffering since last fall. Winlhrop is shown with Rockefeller in. tun/Winthrop Rockefeller dies in Palm Springs at 60iPALM SPRINGS,Calif. (UPI) — Winlhrop Rockefeller, former governor of Arkansas and grandson of legendary oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller, died today at the age of 60.A spokesman said Rockefeller died at 8:30 a.m. PST at Desert Hospital here. He had been treated for cancer of the pancreas and liver, from which he had been suffering since last fall.The former governor underwent surgery in New York in October for the malignancy and had been recuperating at his winter home here. He was hospitalized Feb. 9 and his condition became critical last week.In his youth, Winthrop Rockefeller was a non-conformist, a wanderer and adventurer, perhaps the only one of the serious and industrious five Rockefeller brothers who could be called a playboy.In later life he put aside that' role to become a hard-working two-term governor of Arkansas —its first Republican chief executive since Reconstruction —and a benefactor and enthusiastic booster of his adopted state.Rockefeller, the fourth son of philanthropist John D. Rockefeller Jr., was born May 1, 1912 in New York City. He and his brothers were heirs to one of the world’s great fortunes from the Standard Oil empire founded by his grandfather, John D. Rockefeller Sr.He attended Loomis School, Windsor, Conn., and Yale University, where he became the only one of the Rockefeller brothers to drop out of college. He never went back.Instead he went to Texas where he worked as a roustabout in the oil fields for 75 cents an hour and lived in a 54.50-a-week room.Win was basically a nonconformist, his brother David once was quoted as saying. HeWINTHROP ROCKEFELLERwas rebellious against the stereotype of what we are.Vaguely dissatisfied, he worked at several junior level jobs in different family dominated enterprises and lived the life of the rich young swinger about town.That bored him and he joined the Army, a year before Pearl Harbor, as a private. He found a home for six years, working his way up to Lieutenant Colonel, was a division commander, and fought in the South Pacific.He had a Purple Heart to show he was the only surviving army officer aboard a troop ship struck by a Kamikaze. And for the rest of his life he maintained an abiding affection for the military.After the war he worked with veterans readjustment problems for the War Department, did personnel work at Socony-Vacuum (Mobil) Oil Co., and immersed himself in a half dozen philanthropic activities, including the chairmanship of the colonial WilliamsburgFoundation.The war had dampened the his awareness to human suffering and nudged him further along toward a career of public service.Then, in 1948, he married Mrs. Barbara (Bobo) Paulek-iute Sears, a Pennsylvania miner's daughter. After six years of marriage, they were divorced in a case that made headlines across the country.The divorce involved a $6 million settlement—$750,000 in cash and the rest in trust funds for Mrs. Rockefeller and a son, Winthrop Paul Rockefeller, now 23.Rockefeller moved to Arkansas shortly after that and built a $1.5 million home on Petit Jean mountain 50 miles northwest of Little Rock. He started developing his famed Winrock Farms, devoted to the production of purebred and commercial cattle, rice, soybeans and small grains.He was married once more, in 1956, to Mrs. Jeanette Edris Rockefeller, a theater and hotel heiress who had been married three times previously. That marriage also ended in divorce in 1971.Rockefeller’s grandfather and father gave away in their lifetimes more than a billion dollars to charitable and benevolent ventures without diminishing the family fortune and he and his brothers continued the family tradition of generous giving.The brothers—all of whom survive—are John D. Rockefeller III who heads the Rockefeller Foundation, Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller of New York, conservationist and resort developer Laurance Rockefeller and banker David Rockefeller. A sister, Mrs. Jean Mauze, also survives. He also is survived by his son, Winthrop Paul, and a granddaughter, Andrea Davison Rockefeller.
Newspaper Details
Redlands Daily Facts
Redlands, California, US
Thu, Feb 22, 1973
Page 5
Full Page
Clipped by
Ronald S.
USA 19 Apr 2017
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Redlands Daily Facts
