Gladys Guggenheim Straus

Gladys Eleanor Guggenheim Straus (August 15, 1895 – March 14, 1980)[1] was an American heiress who became an expert on food and nutrition.

Gladys Guggenheim Straus
Straus by A. L. Halmi
Born
Gladys Eleanor Guggenheim

(1895-08-15)August 15, 1895
Elberon, New Jersey, U.S.
DiedMarch 14, 1980(1980-03-14) (aged 84)
Manhattan, New York, U.S.
EducationRosemary Hall
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)
Roger Williams Straus
​
​
(m. 1914; died 1957)​
Children3
Parent(s)Daniel Guggenheim
Florence Shloss Guggenheim
RelativesMeyer Guggenheim (brother)
Harry Guggenheim (brother)

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.[2] 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,[2] 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.[3]

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.[1] Her maternal grandparents were Lazarus Shloss and Barbara (née Kahnweiler) Shloss of Philadelphia.[4]

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.[1]

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.[1]

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 per parent's foundation, the Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Foundation and was a member of the council New York State College Home Economics from 1943 to 1946.[1]

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.[1]

Personal life

On January 12, 1914, Gladys was married to Roger Williams Straus Sr. (1891–1957).[5] 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.[6] Roger's uncle and aunt, Isidor Straus and Ida Straus, and Gladys' uncle, Benjamin Guggenheim, perished aboard the HMS Titanic in April 1912.[7] 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.[1]

References
  1. Pace, Eric (15 March 1980). "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". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  2. Photo, Special Cable to THE NEW YORK TIMES Underwood & Underwood (29 September 1930). "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". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  3. "Florence Shloss Guggenheim". jwa.org. Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  4. Logan, Claudia. "Florence Shloss Guggenheim | Encyclopedia Biography". jwa.org. Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  5. Times, Special to The New York Times The New York (29 July 1957). "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". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  6. "Marriage unites Guggenheim and Straus families". The Evening World. New York, NY. January 12, 1914. p. 2. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
  7. Silverman, Al (2008). The Time of Their Lives: The Golden Age of Great American Book Publishers, Their Editors, and Authors. Truman Talley Books. pp. 17–40. ISBN 978-0312-35003-1.
  8. "STRAUS--Oscar S., II,". The New York Times. January 13, 2013. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  9. "SARAH BARISH TO WED OSCAR STRAUS 3d". The New York Times. 7 April 1985. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  10. "Joan Sutton Married to Oscar S. Straus". The New York Times. 26 March 1982. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  11. Lehmann-Haupt, Christopher (27 May 2004). "Roger W. Straus Jr., Book Publisher From the Age of the Independents, Dies at 87". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  12. Keoun, Bradley (September 8, 1999). "MAX HART, 80, CLOTHING FIRM EXECUTIVE". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  13. TIMES, Special to THE NEW YORK (18 June 1945). "FLORENCE STRAUS WED IN PURCHASE; Gov. and Mrs. Dewey Guests, at Marriage to Lieut. Max A. Hart in Country Home Lytton--Cole". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
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