Duke struck up a lifelong friendship with General William Henry Draper Jr., who convinced her in 1975 to serve as co-chair of Population Action International, a position she held for more than 20 years. Duke worked alongside her husband, who served as ambassador to Spain, Denmark and Morocco, before moving to London. Duke was a scion of the family that made its fortune in tobacco and founded Duke University and Duke Energy.įollowing the death of President Kennedy, Ms. They would marry in 1962, and lived in Washington, D.C., where he was serving as chief of protocol for President John F. exhibition of Peruvian Inca gold in the lobby of the Pepsi-Cola building on Park Avenue, she met Angier Biddle Duke. The unique promotional photo with the two of them and their Pepsis included the wonderfully ironic marketing slogan, “Be sociable, have a Pepsi.” In 1959, she helped orchestrate the placement of Pepsi in the hands of Soviet Premier Nikita Khruschev and then Vice President Richard Nixon while on a state visit to Moscow. The legendary trumpeter turned to his band and said, “You fellas are going to behave on this tour, and not let this nice lady down.” Louis Armstrong became a lifelong friend. Armstrong, make this tour a success-my job is on the line,” she remembered telling the jazz great before setting off for Africa. Duke created a promotion in Africa where she led a four-month tour of West Africa with Louis Armstrong and his band. ![]() Pepsi eventually hired her away, appointing her to be vice president of international public relations, a position she held from 1958 to 1962. In the mid-1950s she became one of the first and few women stockbrokers on Wall Street, working the commodities desk for Orvis Brothers from 1953 to 1958, where she was a leading sugar trader for Pepsi-Cola. ![]() She became disillusioned with the short employment contracts for women in broadcast news and its show business aspect, so she began studying finance. Duke worked at WCAU–TV, an NBC affiliate in Philadelphia, and as an anchor on the “Today” show with Dave Garroway, where she covered the 1952 Democratic Convention. Returning to the East Coast in the 1950s with two children, Jeffrey and Letitia, Ms. She then worked as a writer for the women’s page at the New York Journal-American from 1944 to 1946, before marrying Warner Brothers actor Jeffrey Lynn and moving to Los Angeles. Duke began her career in journalism as a panelist on an early television talk show “Leave It to the Girls,” created by pioneering broadcast journalist Martha Roundtree. ![]() Duke was a floor walker in department stores in New York and was a model at the New York World’s Fair in 1939. She began her working life at the age of 16, joining her sister in New York, where they supported themselves and their mother. Duke, ever practical and pragmatic, changed her name to Robin Chandler at the urging of her bosses when she was a young news broadcaster in New York in the 1940s. She was always, always the nicest, the kindest, the most gracious woman I’ve known.”īorn Grace Esther Tippett in Baltimore, Maryland, on October 13, 1923, Ms. Duke in the 1980s and, over time, became a close friend of hers. “She was the grandest of ladies,” said Southampton attorney Mary Jane Asato, who began representing Ms.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |