She also gave to many smaller institutions, including the Newark Museum and the New Jersey Symphony, paying all of the salary expenses of the orchestra in some years. Her contributions often went beyond money, as when she and Laurance S. Rockefeller and Brooke Astor in 1976 came up with the idea of planting a grove along the Potomac River to honor President Lyndon B. Johnson. From the administration of John F. Kennedy to that of George W. Bush, she served on committees to preserve the White House. Jane Pinto-Reis Brian was born on Aug. 12, 1917, in Qingdao, China, where her father was serving as Brazils ambassador. The family moved to Paris, where she was educated at the Couvent des Oiseaux. Vogue reported that at 16 or so, black-eyed, confident and competent beyond her years, she married Fritz Mannheimer, a Dutch banker and, like Mr. Engelhard, thought to be one of the worlds richest men. Eight weeks after they wed, Dr. Mannheimer died. The next day, his investment house closed, bankrupt. She did inherit a microfilm company that copied United States war records and material for the Library of Congress, on whose board she later served. She was executive vice president of the microfilm company. After five years there, she married Mr. Engelhard, whose portfolio (ranging from gold, platinum, diamonds and timber to racehorses like Nijinsky II, a winner of the English Triple Crown) was once referred to as a consortium of conglomerates. They had houses in Johannesburg, in Maine and on the Gaspé Peninsula of Canada, and apartments in Manhattan, Rome and London. But they spent most of their time at their estate in Far Hills, N.J., where they kept champion golden retrievers and a pet lion roamed. The Engelhards were active in Democratic Party politics. President Kennedy dispatched them as his representatives on diplomatic occasions. President Johnson continued to send the Engelhards on diplomatic missions. But they proved even more useful as a bridge between Kennedy and Johnson loyalists. In addition to Mrs. de la Renta, who lives in Manhattan and Kent, Conn., Mrs. Engelhard is survived by her four other daughters, Susan OConnor of Missoula, Mont.; Sophie Craighead of Jackson Hole, Wyo.; Sally Pingree of Washington; and Charlene Engelhard of Concord, Mass.; two sisters, Brigitte de la Rochefoucauld of Paris and Madame Jacque Bemberg of Lausanne, Switzerland; 12 grandchildren; and 8 great-grandchildren.
Posted on: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 16:27:29 +0000
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