Happy Rockefeller Dies at 88

Happy Rockefeller, the socialite whose marriage to a just-divorced Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller in 1963 caused a scandal, died Tuesday at her Tarrytown, New York home at the age of 88. In a statement, Rockefeller’s family said she died after a brief illness. Her second husband, Nelson A. Rockefeller, had been a presidential contender until he left his wife of 31 years, Mary Todhunter Clark Rockefeller, for Happy. At the time, divorce was still a major societal stigma and no divorced president had ever been elected. Rockefeller is also widely credited for raising national awareness for early detection of breast cancer, after she, Betty Ford, and Shirley Temple Black publicly announced their mastectomies.