Philanthropist Eleanora Kennedy: Tireless Advocate Persists

Eleanora Kennedy splits her time between New York, Palm Beach and Ireland. She also shares her time between philanthropic endeavors and her love of thoroughbreds that she races in Ireland. In short, she has filled her life with things that make her smile.

This was especially important for her after the death of her beloved husband, Michael, a constitutional lawyer, to whom she was married for many years. They shared their work, as well as their life, until his death seven years ago.

“I had to develop a new life to fill the void of his not being here,” says Kennedy, who flies to Florida each year to start her four-month stay in Palm Beach. “For some reason, I feel close to him in the air on New Year’s Eve. Then I have a sleepover with a girlfriend and we try to stay up until the ball drops.”

She and Michael were a team in the courtroom. He tried the case, and she was in the background helping to pick the cases, acting as a consultant and helping to select jurors. They traveled all over the country, but lived in diverse, artistic West Palm Beach; in Manhattan; in Wainscott in the Hamptons; and in County Kerry, Ireland.

The two met after Kennedy had earned a degree in merchandising and design from the Fashion Institute of Technology and was a buyer for Saks Fifth Avenue. It was Michael, a lawyer, who introduced her to activism. The two became radical liberals (her words). They never saw an injustice they didn’t want to make right. Sadly, with the death of Michael to pneumonia following six months of treatment for a rare form of cancer, Kennedy had to reserve her energy for the unimaginable process of learning to live without the love of her life.

“I still am completely enmeshed in anything political,” says the woman who fought for civil rights and against racism, sexism, homophobia and other injustices. “I was a buyer for Saks when I met Michael. Then I switched to law. He started my political education.”

Without Michael, Kennedy has filled her time with stints on medical and cultural boards such as Memorial Sloan Kettering, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Central Park Conservancy and others.

“People try to fix me up with men, but I’m not lonely,” Kennedy says of the grieving process and the aftermath. “I enjoy my solitude. I read, listen to music and race horses — my new passion.”

Michael’s long road to recovery at Memorial Sloan Kettering was successful, but left his body compromised. He died not of the rare bone cancer, but of pneumonia. His death was preceded by Kennedy’s mother, Anna, at age 72.

“You never get over the death of your mom,” says Kennedy, as a slight sadness slips into her voice. “Then I look out and see the palm trees and the beach and feel better.”

Kennedy says she’s blessed to be able to share what she has with others. She frequents the well-known Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach, which offers lectures during the week with artists, authors and others. She also enjoys simulcasts of the Metropolitan Opera and chamber music performances, to name a few of the artistic endeavors at the Society of the Four Arts, which exists through the generosity of others.

She says it is a truly generous gift when a serious collector shares their collection with the public. One such collector that she particularly appreciates is Leonard Lauder, chairman of the Estée Lauder Companies, who donated his collection of 78 canvas art, prints and sculpture to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City in 2013.

“When he was young, he couldn’t afford to buy art,” Kennedy explains of why his gift of a billion dollars’ worth of Cubist art is so extraordinary. “He didn’t have money, then the family did the Estée Lauder IPO, and the family had lots of money, and he was able to collect. He chose to share his collection with the public rather than keep it locked away.”

She says it takes passion to amass such a collection, and a love of humanity to be willing to share it with others rather than hoard it away in a vault or one’s home where only a few can enjoy it.

Kennedy can understand being driven by one’s passion. Hers just happens to have four legs and run really fast.

“In Ireland, if you win a lot, they say you’re lucky or a witch,” says Kennedy, who is known affectionately as “Widow Kennedy” in Kildare and is described as a “little witchy” by the locals, but only because of her many wins.

Racing horses is how she ends up spending six months a year in Kildare. She has been successful, clocking 16 wins in only two years. She has been so successful, she ran out of hats to wear in the Winners Circle, causing a hat-loving friend to send her a bunch.

“I wear a hat to every race,” says Kennedy, who also enjoys riding — just not her thoroughbreds. “It is respectful to the horse, the jockey and the trainer,” she says.

She’ll also be able to put her hat collection to use while in the United States. She and some female friends will be attending the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes in South Florida. She will start her personal circuit again, going from Florida to New York and back to Ireland. Her New York getaway has a new view though.

Out of town for Kennedy is now Rhinebeck in Upstate New York. Even so, she has fond memories of Wainscott and the Hamptons.

“We didn’t go out to restaurants much, but we loved going to The Seafood Shop in Wainscott, walking on the beach or going to the Candy Kitchen in Bridgehampton,” Kennedy remembers of visits with Michael and their daughter, Anna.

But, no matter where she goes, she takes Michael with her.

“Grief is just the price you pay for love,” Kennedy says.

Todd Shapiro is an award-winning publicist and associate publisher of Dan’s Papers.