Gladys Guggenheim Straus Explained

Birth Name:Gladys Eleanor Guggenheim
Birth Date:15 August 1895
Birth Place:Elberon, New Jersey, U.S.
Death Place:Manhattan, New York, U.S.
Education:Rosemary Hall
Party:Republican
Parents:Daniel Guggenheim
Florence Shloss Guggenheim
Children:3
Family:Guggenheim

Gladys Eleanor Guggenheim Straus (August 15, 1895 – March 14, 1980) was an American heiress who became an expert on food and nutrition.

Early life

She was born in Elberon, New Jersey, on August 15, 1895, as Gladys Eleanor Guggenheim. She was a daughter of Florence (née Shloss) Guggenheim (1863–1944) and Daniel Guggenheim.[1] She had two brothers, who were both U.S. Ambassadors, Meyer Robert Guggenheim (to Portugal) and Harry Frank Guggenheim (to Cuba). Her father who assumed control of the Guggenheim family enterprises after her grandfather's death in 1905,[1] and her mother was a co-founder, and president, of the Guggenheim Foundation as well as the treasurer of the Women's National Republican Club from its inception in 1921 to 1938.[2]

Her paternal grandparents were Barbara (née Myers) Guggenheim and Meyer Guggenheim, the Swiss-born patriarch of the Guggenheim family. At the time of Gladys' death in 1980, she was the second last surviving grandchild of Meyer Guggenheim. The last was the Eleanor May, Dowager Countess of Castle Stewart, the widow of Arthur Stuart, 7th Earl Castle Stewart. Her maternal grandparents were Lazarus Shloss and Barbara (née Kahnweiler) Shloss of Philadelphia.[3]

In her youth, her parents lived in Manhattan and bought the former Howard Gould estate in Port Washington on the Gold Coast of Long Island. She was educated at the Rosemary Hall in Greenwich, Connecticut, from 1910 to 1913 and planned to attend Bryn Mawr College but married Straus instead.

Career

In 1940, Gladys was a co-founder of Gourmet magazine, of which she was assistant editor from inception to 1950. Governor Thomas E. Dewey appointed her a Nutrition Commissioner for the New York Metropolitan area from 1943 to 1945 and again from 1947 to 1948. She was also a trustee Mount Sinai Hospital for more than fifty years and served as vice president of the board from 1951 to 1971.

She was a trustee of the Institute on Manitoba and Science in Rensselaerville, New York, Chairman of the Mount Sinai Medical School and a trustee of the Roger Williams Straus Memorial Foundation. She served as Chairman of her parents' foundation, the Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Foundation and was a member of the council New York State College Home Economics from 1943 to 1946.

In politics, Straus was a Republican and served as vice president of the Board of Governors of the Women's National Republican Club from 1936 to 1951.

Personal life

On January 12, 1914, Gladys was married to Roger Williams Straus Sr. (1891–1957).[4] Straus served as president of the American Smelting and Refining Company and was the only son of Oscar Straus (the former Secretary of Commerce and Labor and Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire) and Sarah Lavanburg Straus.[5] Roger's uncle and aunt, Isidor Straus and Ida Straus, and Gladys' uncle, Benjamin Guggenheim, perished aboard the RMS Titanic in April 1912.[6] Together, Gladys and Roger lived at 6 East 93rd Street in Manhattan and their country home in Purchase, New York, and were the parents of two sons and one daughter:

Her husband suffered a heart attack while fishing near his lodge at Grahamsville and died at Liberty, New York, on July 28, 1957. Gladys died on March 14, 1980, in her Manhattan apartment.[13]

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Photo . Special Cable to THE NEW YORK TIMES Underwood & Underwood . DANIEL GUGGENHEIM DIES SUDDENLY AT 74 OF HEART DISEASE; Philanthropist, Capitalist and Patron of the Arts Succumbs at Port Washington Home. SET UP AERONAUTICS FUND $2,500,000 Gift the Basis of Important Research--Liberal Donor to Many Charities. HE WON WEALTH IN MINING A Friend of Labor, He Had Wide Interests in Industry--Leaders in Many Fields Pay Tribute. A Life of Usefulness. DANIEL GUGGENHEIM DIES SUDDENLY AT 74 Began Work in Switzerland. Was Progressive in Business. Many Business Connections. An Ardent Humanitarian. Devoted to Art. Aeronautics School Created. PHILANTHROPIST CALLED BY DEATH. BRITISH PRAISE GUGGENHEIM. Newspapers Pay Tribute to His Aid to Aviation. . 10 April 2020 . . 29 September 1930.
  2. Web site: Florence Shloss Guggenheim . jwa.org . . 10 April 2020 . 10 April 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200410170453/https://jwa.org/people/guggenheim-florence . dead .
  3. Web site: Logan . Claudia . Florence Shloss Guggenheim Encyclopedia Biography . jwa.org . . 10 April 2020.
  4. News: Times . Special to The New York Times The New York . Roger W. Straus Is Dead at 65; Was Chancellor of State Regents; Former Chairman of American Smelting and Refining-- Had Served in U.N. Roger W. Straus Is Dead at 65; Was Chancellor of State Regents Inheritor of Tradition Served in Siberia Trustee of Emanu-El Here Dewey Pays Tribute Cited for Religious Work . 10 April 2020 . . 29 July 1957.
  5. News: Marriage unites Guggenheim and Straus families. 7 May 2015. The Evening World. January 12, 1914. New York, NY. 2.
  6. Book: Silverman, Al . The Time of Their Lives: The Golden Age of Great American Book Publishers, Their Editors, and Authors . . 2008. 978-0312-35003-1. 17–40.
  7. News: STRAUS--Oscar S., II, . 10 April 2020 . . January 13, 2013.
  8. News: SARAH BARISH TO WED OSCAR STRAUS 3d . 10 April 2020 . . 7 April 1985.
  9. News: Joan Sutton Married to Oscar S. Straus . 10 April 2020 . . 26 March 1982.
  10. News: Lehmann-Haupt . Christopher . Roger W. Straus Jr., Book Publisher From the Age of the Independents, Dies at 87 . 10 April 2020 . . 27 May 2004.
  11. News: Keoun . Bradley . MAX HART, 80, CLOTHING FIRM EXECUTIVE . 10 April 2020 . . September 8, 1999.
  12. News: TIMES . Special to THE NEW YORK . FLORENCE STRAUS WED IN PURCHASE; Gov. and Mrs. Dewey Guests, at Marriage to Lieut. Max A. Hart in Country Home Lytton--Cole . 10 April 2020 . . 18 June 1945.
  13. News: Pace . Eric . GLADYS G. STRAUS, 84, A NUTRITION EXPERT; Guggenheim Family Member Was Also Occupied With Medical and Foundation Affairs Wrote Two Cookbooks Her Environmental Interest A Native of New Jersey A Bride at the Age of 18 . 10 April 2020 . . 15 March 1980.