Nancy Kissinger died on Thursday at her home in Kent, Connecticut, at age 92. Henry Kissinger’s wife was to be buried later at Arlington National Cemetery beside him, according to Robert Johnson.
Michael on Nancy Kissinger
Michael described her as “a powerhouse of ideas and insights that she put to work throughout her life in government and philanthropy — and as Henry’s most valued and trusted advisor.” He also called her “the ultimate diplomat — as wise as she was discreet.”
Those words matched the role she had built over decades. Nancy Sharon Maginnes became Nancy Kissinger after marrying Henry Kissinger in a civil ceremony in Arlington, Virginia, on March 30, 1974.
From Mount Holyoke to Washington
She grew up with two brothers and a horse on an estate in White Plains, attended Good Counsel Academy in White Plains, and graduated from the Master's School in Dobbs Ferry in 1951. After graduating from Mount Holyoke in 1955, she taught history for two years and later did graduate studies at the University of California at Berkeley before going to work for Rockefeller.
She met Henry Kissinger in the mid-1960s, when he was a consultant for Rockefeller and she was on the staff of Rockefeller's Commission on Critical Choices for America. After leaving Washington, the couple lived in Manhattan and Kent, Connecticut, and she remained a strong presence on the New York philanthropy scene.
Newark Airport incident
Her public image was not without friction. In 1982, she made headlines after a confrontation at Newark Airport, where she tried to throttle a woman who harassed her and her husband; she said she only wanted to protect him from upset.
A judge acquitted her of assault and called the episode “a spontaneous and somewhat human reaction to an offensive question.” Judy Peabody later said at a hospital charity event in 1989, “Nancy Kissinger can pick up the phone and get right through to the CEO. Nobody keeps her waiting.”
Her death closes a life that moved between philanthropy, private counsel and public attention. The family’s burial plans place her next to Henry Kissinger at Arlington National Cemetery, leaving the question of what caused her death unanswered.
