Casey Ribicoff was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 philanthropist

Philanthropist

A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...

, socialite and the second wife and widow of United States Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare and later United States Senator from Connecticut

Connecticut

Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...

, Abraham Ribicoff. Ribicoff was the President of the ladies auxilliary of Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, Florida

Miami Beach, Florida

Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States, incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on a barrier island between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter which separates the Beach from Miami city proper...

 and in 1963 became the became the first woman to be selected to serve on the hospital's board of trustees.

As a socialite, she was known as a great woman of style who, after years of appearing on best-dressed lists, was inducted into the international Best-Dressed Hall of Fame in 1988. Ribicoff counted among her friends Bill Blass

Bill Blass

William Ralph "Bill" Blass was an American fashion designer, born in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He is known for his tailoring and his innovative combinations of textures and patterns...

 (of whose estate she was the pricipal executor of).

Ribicoff also counted Nancy Kissinger

Nancy Kissinger

Nancy Sharon Maginnes Kissinger is a philanthropist, and the second wife of former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. The couple married on March 31, 1974, in Arlington, VA; a year earlier she had said that speculation that the two would marry was "outrageous."Nancy Kissinger was raised in...

, Barbara Walters

Barbara Walters

Barbara Jill Walters is an American broadcast journalist, author, and television personality. She has hosted morning television shows , the television newsmagazine , former co-anchor of the ABC Evening News, and current contributor to ABC News.Walters was first known as a popular TV morning news...

, Annette de la Renta

Annette de la Renta

Annette de la Renta is an American philanthropist and socialite married to the fashion designer Oscar de la Renta.-Birth and childhood:...

, Dominick Dunne

Dominick Dunne

Dominick John Dunne was an American writer and investigative journalist, whose subjects frequently hinged on the ways in which high society interacts with the judicial system...

 and Tom Brokaw

Tom Brokaw

Thomas John "Tom" Brokaw is an American television journalist and author best known as the anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News from 1982 to 2004. He is the author of The Greatest Generation and other books and the recipient of numerous awards and honors...

 among her close friends.

President Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter

James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...

 appointed her to the board of the Kennedy Center, a seat in which she served for twenty years.

External Links

• New York Times Obituary http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/26/nyregion/casey-ribicoff-widow-of-senator-dies-at-88.html?_r=1