Margaret Rockefeller, who worked on behalf of farmland conservation, the American Farmland Trust, the New York Botanical Garden and the New York Philharmonic, died yesterday at New York Hospital. She was 80 and the wife of David Rockefeller, former chairman of the Chase Manhattan Bank and the Museum of Modern Art.
The cause was complications from heart surgery, a family spokesman said.
Although she served on numerous boards and was involved in fund raising for a number of projects, Mrs. Rockefeller, who was known as Peggy, maintained a low profile, preferring to remain in the background and devoting much of her time to causes that were more worthy than fashionable.
Particularly concerned with agricultural issues and the environment, she was a founding board member of the American Farmland Trust and the Maine Coast Heritage Trust, serving as chairman for many years. She was also a member of the Nature Conservancy and the National Historic Trust.
In the mid-1970's, Mrs. Rockefeller began to buy and raise cattle, first on Bartlett Island in Maine, near the Rockefeller summer home in Seal Harbor, and then at Pocantico, the family home in Tarrytown, N.Y. In 1980, Mr. and Mrs. Rockefeller bought four farms in western Columbia County, N.Y., where Mrs. Rockefeller became an accomplished farmer, raising purebred Simmental cattle.
"I always loved the country, farming and animals," she said in an interview with The New York Times soon after the purchase of the Columbia County farms. She read all she could about farmland preservation until "little by little, I was trapped," she said
In 1992, Mr. and Mrs. Rockefeller announced an agreement with the American Farmland Trust and the Columbia County Land Conservancy that would place under protection for perpetuity almost 2,000 acres of their Hudson River Valley property.
Mrs. Rockefeller made substantial contributions to Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and the New York Philharmonic and was a trustee from 1953 to 1970.
Mrs. Rockefeller was also a member of the Board of Managers of the New York Botanical Garden. She came up with the idea for and helped finance the garden's series of six illustrated books on America's wildflowers. She organized the National Committee for the Wild Flowers of the United States, which raised some $500,000 for the project.
In 1988, Mrs. Rockefeller opened the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden at the New York Botanical Garden, a two-acre enclave of some 2,700 roses. The restoration of the original 1915 garden designed by Beatrix Jones Farrand was supported by a $1 million gift from Mr. Rockefeller.
Mr. and Mrs. Rockefeller received the Pillar of New York Award, given by the Preservation League of New York State, last fall.
The daughter of Francis Sims and Neva van Zandt Smith McGrath, Mrs. Rockefeller was born in New York and grew up in Mount Kisco. She attended the Shipley School in Bryn Mawr, Pa., and the Chapin School in New York. She met her future husband in the early 1930's and they were married in 1940 in Bedford, N.Y. The couple celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary last September.
In addition to her husband, she is survived by six children, David Jr., Abby Rockefeller and Neva Goodwin, all of Masschusetts; Peggy Dulany of New York, Dr. Richard of Maine, and Eileen Growald of California; a brother, Sims McGrath of Tenants Harbor, Me., and 10 grandchildren.
The cause was complications from heart surgery, a family spokesman said.
Although she served on numerous boards and was involved in fund raising for a number of projects, Mrs. Rockefeller, who was known as Peggy, maintained a low profile, preferring to remain in the background and devoting much of her time to causes that were more worthy than fashionable.
Particularly concerned with agricultural issues and the environment, she was a founding board member of the American Farmland Trust and the Maine Coast Heritage Trust, serving as chairman for many years. She was also a member of the Nature Conservancy and the National Historic Trust.
In the mid-1970's, Mrs. Rockefeller began to buy and raise cattle, first on Bartlett Island in Maine, near the Rockefeller summer home in Seal Harbor, and then at Pocantico, the family home in Tarrytown, N.Y. In 1980, Mr. and Mrs. Rockefeller bought four farms in western Columbia County, N.Y., where Mrs. Rockefeller became an accomplished farmer, raising purebred Simmental cattle.
"I always loved the country, farming and animals," she said in an interview with The New York Times soon after the purchase of the Columbia County farms. She read all she could about farmland preservation until "little by little, I was trapped," she said
In 1992, Mr. and Mrs. Rockefeller announced an agreement with the American Farmland Trust and the Columbia County Land Conservancy that would place under protection for perpetuity almost 2,000 acres of their Hudson River Valley property.
Mrs. Rockefeller made substantial contributions to Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and the New York Philharmonic and was a trustee from 1953 to 1970.
Mrs. Rockefeller was also a member of the Board of Managers of the New York Botanical Garden. She came up with the idea for and helped finance the garden's series of six illustrated books on America's wildflowers. She organized the National Committee for the Wild Flowers of the United States, which raised some $500,000 for the project.
In 1988, Mrs. Rockefeller opened the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden at the New York Botanical Garden, a two-acre enclave of some 2,700 roses. The restoration of the original 1915 garden designed by Beatrix Jones Farrand was supported by a $1 million gift from Mr. Rockefeller.
Mr. and Mrs. Rockefeller received the Pillar of New York Award, given by the Preservation League of New York State, last fall.
The daughter of Francis Sims and Neva van Zandt Smith McGrath, Mrs. Rockefeller was born in New York and grew up in Mount Kisco. She attended the Shipley School in Bryn Mawr, Pa., and the Chapin School in New York. She met her future husband in the early 1930's and they were married in 1940 in Bedford, N.Y. The couple celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary last September.
In addition to her husband, she is survived by six children, David Jr., Abby Rockefeller and Neva Goodwin, all of Masschusetts; Peggy Dulany of New York, Dr. Richard of Maine, and Eileen Growald of California; a brother, Sims McGrath of Tenants Harbor, Me., and 10 grandchildren.
Margaret Rockefeller, who worked on behalf of farmland conservation, the American Farmland Trust, the New York Botanical Garden and the New York Philharmonic, died yesterday at New York Hospital. She was 80 and the wife of David Rockefeller, former chairman of the Chase Manhattan Bank and the Museum of Modern Art.
The cause was complications from heart surgery, a family spokesman said.
Although she served on numerous boards and was involved in fund raising for a number of projects, Mrs. Rockefeller, who was known as Peggy, maintained a low profile, preferring to remain in the background and devoting much of her time to causes that were more worthy than fashionable.
Particularly concerned with agricultural issues and the environment, she was a founding board member of the American Farmland Trust and the Maine Coast Heritage Trust, serving as chairman for many years. She was also a member of the Nature Conservancy and the National Historic Trust.
In the mid-1970's, Mrs. Rockefeller began to buy and raise cattle, first on Bartlett Island in Maine, near the Rockefeller summer home in Seal Harbor, and then at Pocantico, the family home in Tarrytown, N.Y. In 1980, Mr. and Mrs. Rockefeller bought four farms in western Columbia County, N.Y., where Mrs. Rockefeller became an accomplished farmer, raising purebred Simmental cattle.
"I always loved the country, farming and animals," she said in an interview with The New York Times soon after the purchase of the Columbia County farms. She read all she could about farmland preservation until "little by little, I was trapped," she said
In 1992, Mr. and Mrs. Rockefeller announced an agreement with the American Farmland Trust and the Columbia County Land Conservancy that would place under protection for perpetuity almost 2,000 acres of their Hudson River Valley property.
Mrs. Rockefeller made substantial contributions to Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and the New York Philharmonic and was a trustee from 1953 to 1970.
Mrs. Rockefeller was also a member of the Board of Managers of the New York Botanical Garden. She came up with the idea for and helped finance the garden's series of six illustrated books on America's wildflowers. She organized the National Committee for the Wild Flowers of the United States, which raised some $500,000 for the project.
In 1988, Mrs. Rockefeller opened the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden at the New York Botanical Garden, a two-acre enclave of some 2,700 roses. The restoration of the original 1915 garden designed by Beatrix Jones Farrand was supported by a $1 million gift from Mr. Rockefeller.
Mr. and Mrs. Rockefeller received the Pillar of New York Award, given by the Preservation League of New York State, last fall.
The daughter of Francis Sims and Neva van Zandt Smith McGrath, Mrs. Rockefeller was born in New York and grew up in Mount Kisco. She attended the Shipley School in Bryn Mawr, Pa., and the Chapin School in New York. She met her future husband in the early 1930's and they were married in 1940 in Bedford, N.Y. The couple celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary last September.
In addition to her husband, she is survived by six children, David Jr., Abby Rockefeller and Neva Goodwin, all of Masschusetts; Peggy Dulany of New York, Dr. Richard of Maine, and Eileen Growald of California; a brother, Sims McGrath of Tenants Harbor, Me., and 10 grandchildren.
The cause was complications from heart surgery, a family spokesman said.
Although she served on numerous boards and was involved in fund raising for a number of projects, Mrs. Rockefeller, who was known as Peggy, maintained a low profile, preferring to remain in the background and devoting much of her time to causes that were more worthy than fashionable.
Particularly concerned with agricultural issues and the environment, she was a founding board member of the American Farmland Trust and the Maine Coast Heritage Trust, serving as chairman for many years. She was also a member of the Nature Conservancy and the National Historic Trust.
In the mid-1970's, Mrs. Rockefeller began to buy and raise cattle, first on Bartlett Island in Maine, near the Rockefeller summer home in Seal Harbor, and then at Pocantico, the family home in Tarrytown, N.Y. In 1980, Mr. and Mrs. Rockefeller bought four farms in western Columbia County, N.Y., where Mrs. Rockefeller became an accomplished farmer, raising purebred Simmental cattle.
"I always loved the country, farming and animals," she said in an interview with The New York Times soon after the purchase of the Columbia County farms. She read all she could about farmland preservation until "little by little, I was trapped," she said
In 1992, Mr. and Mrs. Rockefeller announced an agreement with the American Farmland Trust and the Columbia County Land Conservancy that would place under protection for perpetuity almost 2,000 acres of their Hudson River Valley property.
Mrs. Rockefeller made substantial contributions to Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and the New York Philharmonic and was a trustee from 1953 to 1970.
Mrs. Rockefeller was also a member of the Board of Managers of the New York Botanical Garden. She came up with the idea for and helped finance the garden's series of six illustrated books on America's wildflowers. She organized the National Committee for the Wild Flowers of the United States, which raised some $500,000 for the project.
In 1988, Mrs. Rockefeller opened the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden at the New York Botanical Garden, a two-acre enclave of some 2,700 roses. The restoration of the original 1915 garden designed by Beatrix Jones Farrand was supported by a $1 million gift from Mr. Rockefeller.
Mr. and Mrs. Rockefeller received the Pillar of New York Award, given by the Preservation League of New York State, last fall.
The daughter of Francis Sims and Neva van Zandt Smith McGrath, Mrs. Rockefeller was born in New York and grew up in Mount Kisco. She attended the Shipley School in Bryn Mawr, Pa., and the Chapin School in New York. She met her future husband in the early 1930's and they were married in 1940 in Bedford, N.Y. The couple celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary last September.
In addition to her husband, she is survived by six children, David Jr., Abby Rockefeller and Neva Goodwin, all of Masschusetts; Peggy Dulany of New York, Dr. Richard of Maine, and Eileen Growald of California; a brother, Sims McGrath of Tenants Harbor, Me., and 10 grandchildren.
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See more Rockefeller or McGrath memorials in:
- Rockefeller Family Cemetery Rockefeller or McGrath
- Sleepy Hollow Rockefeller or McGrath
- Westchester County Rockefeller or McGrath
- New York Rockefeller or McGrath
- USA Rockefeller or McGrath
- Find a Grave Rockefeller or McGrath
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