Portrait of Gloria Vanderbilt

Gloria Laura Morgan (Vanderbilt) Cooper was the daughter of railroad tycoon Reginald Vanderbilt and his second wife (a Swiss born American socialite) Gloria Morgan. This heiress inherited $5 million (over $72 million in 2019 dollars) at 18 months old when her father died. A glamorous Manhattan socialite, Gloria (age 95) left much of her estate to charity upon her death battling cancer on 6/17/2019. She had four children including Anderson Cooper who is a famous news anchor at CNN. Gloria was married first to Pasquale "Pat" DiCicco (February 14, 1909 – October 24, 1978) who was an agent, movie producer, and occasional actor, as well as an alleged mobster working for Lucky Luciano.. (They married when she was 17, in 1941, and divorced in 1945 - they had no children) She was married next to Leopold Stokowski, the famous conductor, who was 42 years her senior. They married in 1945 - a few weeks after her first divorce - and divorced in 1955. There were 2 sons born to this marriage. Gloria's 3rd marriage was to director Sidney Lumet in 1956. They had no children and divorced in 1963. Her 4th marriage was to author Wyatt Emory Cooper, on December 24, 1963. The marriage ended in 1978. when he died during heart surgery. They had 2 sons, one of which is Anderson Cooper. While Gloria had many other relationships (including Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando) during her long life, she never married again. But the men in her life didn't define her. What did mark her life was her willingness to explore her artistic side and take chances. She was an actress, her foray into fashion (do you remember her jeans?) and perfume, her paintings, writing and more. Gloria may have married and dated famous (and notorious) men, but it is her contributions to the world for which she will be remembered.