Rockefeller, Margaret (1915–1996)

American conservationist. Name variations: Peggy Rockefeller; Peggy McGrath. Born Margaret McGrath in 1915; died in New York on March 26, 1996; married David Rockefeller (b. 1915, son of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller ); children: David Rockefeller, Jr. (b. 1941); Abby Aldrich Rockefeller (b. 1943); Neva Goodwin Rockefeller (b. 1944); Margaret Dulany Rockefeller (b. 1947); Richard Gilder Rockefeller (b. 1949); Eileen McGrath Rockefeller (b. 1952).

Her love of farming, animals and agriculture was the hallmark of her career as a conservationist, but Margaret Rockefeller, known as Peggy, was equally at ease with the state dinners and other urban accoutrements of her husband's professional career as the chair of the Chase Manhattan Bank. Both Margaret and David Rockefeller were highly regarded philanthropists; Margaret was not only a founding board member of American Farmland Trust—a national land-preservation group—but the sole founding member of the Maine Coast Heritage Trust. Established in 1970, the Trust held more than 66,000 acres in Maine by the mid-1990s. Rockefeller was also a trustee of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and served on the board of the New York Botanical Garden. She died of complications from heart surgery in New York on March 26, 1996.

sources:

"Margaret Rockefeller: Conservationist; at 80," in Boston Globe. March 27, 1996.

suggested reading:

Stasz, Clarice. The Rockefeller Women: Dynasty of Piety, Privacy, and Service. St. Martin's, 1995.

Stephen Tschirhart , freelance writer, Birmingham, Michigan