Heiress, Philanthropist. Enid Annenberg was born in Chicago on May 13, 1906, and grew up in Milwaukee, where she attended the German-English Academy, now the University School. The family later moved to Manhattan and then to Long Island, but Enid was sent away to school at Mount Ida Seminary in Newton, Mass. In 1954, she became the publisher of Seventeen, the magazine for teenage girls, owned at the time by the Annenberg family. A year later, she became its editor, and for 15 years she directed the magazine from a pink swiveled throne in a large office dominated by pink curtains and pink flowers. During part of her tenure at the magazine, she also wrote a syndicated column, "Young Living." She also wrote four books on young living and etiquette, with advice on how to meet boys and, once met, what to do about kissing. She recommended art exhibitions as a fine place to meet young men and once met, dropping a casual remark to capture their interest. Her suggestions of casual remarks included, "What's chiaroscuro?" and "Picasso's Blue Period, I believe." Mrs. Haupt was fond of saying that "nature is my religion." For more than five decades her greatest pleasure was sharing that religion. A principal beneficiary of this passion was the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx. Over the years it received more than $34 million and will also receive a substantial gift from her estate. A major portion of her gift went to the resurrection of the garden's glass-domed Victorian conservatory, which by the 1970's had become a sodden and broken-paned ruin. The conservatory now bears her name. Enid was laid to rest in her family mausoleum at Salem Fields Cemetery.
Heiress, Philanthropist. Enid Annenberg was born in Chicago on May 13, 1906, and grew up in Milwaukee, where she attended the German-English Academy, now the University School. The family later moved to Manhattan and then to Long Island, but Enid was sent away to school at Mount Ida Seminary in Newton, Mass. In 1954, she became the publisher of Seventeen, the magazine for teenage girls, owned at the time by the Annenberg family. A year later, she became its editor, and for 15 years she directed the magazine from a pink swiveled throne in a large office dominated by pink curtains and pink flowers. During part of her tenure at the magazine, she also wrote a syndicated column, "Young Living." She also wrote four books on young living and etiquette, with advice on how to meet boys and, once met, what to do about kissing. She recommended art exhibitions as a fine place to meet young men and once met, dropping a casual remark to capture their interest. Her suggestions of casual remarks included, "What's chiaroscuro?" and "Picasso's Blue Period, I believe." Mrs. Haupt was fond of saying that "nature is my religion." For more than five decades her greatest pleasure was sharing that religion. A principal beneficiary of this passion was the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx. Over the years it received more than $34 million and will also receive a substantial gift from her estate. A major portion of her gift went to the resurrection of the garden's glass-domed Victorian conservatory, which by the 1970's had become a sodden and broken-paned ruin. The conservatory now bears her name. Enid was laid to rest in her family mausoleum at Salem Fields Cemetery.
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Explore more
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
