Marjorie Merriweather Post

Marjorie Merriweather Post was born on March 15, 1887 in Springfield, Illinois. She was the only child of Charles William (C.W.) Post (1854-1914) and Ella Merriweather Post (1853-1912) Mrs. Post became the owner of the Postum Cereal Company after her father's death in 1914, and through a series of merger's built the company into the General Foods Corporation. She served as director of the corporation until 1958, during which time she was an early and important proponent of frozen foods. Post married and divorced four times, with each of the marriages playing a significant role in her life and the eventual founding of Hillwood. Her marriages to Edward Close, E.F. Hutton, and Joseph Davies spanned 14 to 20 years each. She took her maiden name, Marjorie Merriweather Post, after her last divorce in 1964. Edward Bennett Close (1882-1955) on December 3, 1905 Edward Francis (E.F.) Hutton (1875-1962) on July 7, 1920 Joseph E. Davies (1876-1958) on December 15, 1935 Herbert Arthur May (1892-1966) on June 18, 1958 Marjorie had three daughters: two with her first husband Edward Close and one with her second husband E.F. Hutton. Her oldest daughter, Adelaide Riggs, was the president of the foundation that Post established to support Hillwood when it opened to the public as a museum in 1977. Post’s youngest daughter Nedenia (Dina Merrill) is still living and serving as director emeritus at Hillwood. Adelaide Breevort Close, b. July 26, 1908, Greenwich, Ct; d. December 31, 1998 Eleanor Post Close, b. December 12, 1909, Greenwich, Connecticut; d. December, 2006 Nedenia Marjorie Hutton, b. December 29, 1923, New York City Marjorie Merriweather Post had eight grandchildren and many more great-grandchildren. Today, family members, most notably granddaughter Ellen MacNeille Charles, Adelaide’s daughter, as president, continue to support and serve Hillwood, Post’s legacy in Washington, D.C Mrs. Post provided funds for the Red Cross to build, equip and run a base hospital at Savenay, France, the biggest in operation at the end of World War I. From 1929 to 1935 she financed and personally supervised a Salvation Army feeding station in New York that served as many as 1,000 per sons daily. She donated the cost of the Boy Scouts of America headquarters in Washington. Many of her gifts were anonymous, such as a $100,000 grant to the National Cultural Center in Washington that was eventually traced to her. The center later became the John F. Kennedy Center for the. Performing Arts.