![]() ![]() A lover of animals, in particular her dogs and pet camels, in her later years Duke became a wildlife refuge supporter.ĭuke's interest in horticulture led to a friendship with Pulitzer Prize-winning author and scientific farmer Louis Bromfield, who operated Malabar Farm, his country home in Lucas, Ohio in Richland County. While living in Hawaii, Duke became the first non-Hawaiian woman to take up competitive surfing under the tutelage of surfing champion and Olympic swimmer Duke Kahanamoku and his brothers. After the war, she moved to Paris and wrote for the magazine Harper's Bazaar. In 1945, Duke began a short-lived career as a foreign correspondent for the International News Service, reporting from different cities across the war-ravaged Europe. ![]() During World War II, she worked in a canteen for sailors in Egypt, taking a salary of one dollar a year. She studied singing with Estelle Liebling, the voice teacher of Beverly Sills, in New York City. When Duke came of age, she used her wealth to pursue a variety of interests, including extensive world travel and the arts. Her mother died in 1962, leaving her jewelry, a coat, and an additional $250 million (see below). She received large bequests from her father's will when she turned 21, 25, and 30 she was sometimes referred to as the "world's richest girl". When she turned 18, in 1930, the 6 feet 0 inches (1.83 m) tall Duke was presented to society as a debutante, at a ball at Rough Point, the family residence in Newport, Rhode Island. One of the pieces of real estate in question was a Manhattan mansion at 1 East 78th Street which later became the home of the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University. Due to ambiguity in James Duke's will, a lawsuit was filed in 1927 to prevent auctions and outright sales of real estate he had owned in effect, Doris Duke successfully sued her mother and other executors to prevent the sales. ĭuke spent her early childhood at Duke Farms, her father's 2,700-acre (11 km 2) estate in Hillsborough Township, New Jersey. Duke's holdings in the American Tobacco Company and the precursor of the Duke Power Company. The total value of the estate was estimated variously from $60 - $100 million (equivalent to $927 million to $1.545 billion in 2021), the majority derived from J.B. At his death in 1925, the elder Duke's will bequeathed the majority of his estate to his wife and daughter, along with $17 million in two separate clauses of the will, to The Duke Endowment he had created in 1924. Duke's legacy is now administered by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, dedicated to medical research, prevention of cruelty to children and animals, the performing arts, wildlife and ecology.ĭuke was born in New York City, the only child of tobacco and hydroelectric power tycoon James Buchanan Duke and his second wife, Nanaline Holt Inman, widow of William Patterson Inman. Her estimated $1.3 billion fortune was largely left to charity. She also donated funds to support and educate black students in the South who were disadvantaged because of racism. Her philanthropic work in AIDS research, medicine, and child welfare continued into her old age. Duke was close friends with former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and in 1968, when Duke created the Newport Restoration Foundation, Kennedy Onassis was appointed the vice president and championed the foundation. She was also active in preserving more than 80 historic buildings in Newport, Rhode Island. ![]() At her father's estate in Hillsborough Township, New Jersey, she created one of America's largest indoor botanical displays. Briefly a news correspondent in the 1940s, she also played jazz piano and learned to surf competitively. Her great wealth, luxurious lifestyle, and love life attracted significant press coverage, both during her life and after her death. She was often called "the richest girl in the world". Rough Point ( Newport, Rhode Island, U.S.)ĭoris Duke (Novem– October 28, 1993) was an American billionaire tobacco heiress, philanthropist, art collector, horticulturalist, and socialite.Duke House ( New York City, New York, U.S.) Duke Farms ( Hillsborough Township, New Jersey, U.S.). ![]()
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