Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller

Blanchette Ferry Hooker Rockefeller (1909-1992) married John D. Rockefeller 3rd in 1932. Her life-long involvement in New York City's charitable and civic activities included her lengthy affiliation with the Museum of Modern Art, for which she served as founding chairman of its Junior Council, and two terms as president. She was a trustee of the Brearly School, Vassar College and The Juilliard School. She was a member of the New York Philharmonic Symphony Society, the English-Speaking Union, the American Federation of Arts, the Riverside Church, and the River Club, as well as numerous other leading cultural institutions. She shared many of her husband's philanthropic interests and deep interest in Asia and Asian art. She was a member of the Asia Society, which JDR 3rd founded. Blanchette and JDR 3rd devoted a great deal of time to art collecting. They gradually assembled world-class collections of Asian and American art which were donated to the Asia Society and to San Francisco's DeYoung Museum. Blanchette's mother, Blanche Ferry, was the daughter of the founder of the Detroit-based seed company, D. M. Ferry & Co., a predecessor of the Ferry-Morse Seed Co. Blanche Ferry married Elon Hooker in 1901 and was the the mother of four daughters: Barbara, Adelaide, Helen, and Blanchette. She tended to the needs of various family members, including those of her never married oldest sister, Barbara, who suffered from mental illness. Mrs. Rockefeller's sister Adelaide married the best-selling novelist John P. Marquand. Her sister Helen, an artist and poet, was first married to Ernest O'Malley, a prominent figure in the Irish Republican movement who began his connection with the cause at the age of 18 during the Easter Week uprising of 1916. Mrs. Rockefeller's significant involvement with the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) began in 1949 when her brother-in-law, Nelson A. Rockefeller, asked her to assist with the formation of a Junior Council which he hoped would attract young, talented committee and board members to the museum. Mrs. Rockefeller served as the first chair of the Junior Council. She was an active fundraiser in a number of politcal campaigns, especially those of her son, John D. Rockefeller IV, and her son-in-law, Mark Dayton.