Nelson Rockefeller’s former aide writes personal obituary acknowledging her notoriety round his dying — with a suggestive final line

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Nelson Rockefeller’s former aide writes personal obituary acknowledging her notoriety round his dying — with a suggestive final line


Vice President Nelson Rockefeller’s former deputy press secretary acknowledged her notoriety with the politician’s dying in a self-written obituary printed earlier this month after a lifetime of silence on the subject.

Journalist Megan Marshack, as soon as a younger aide — and long-speculated mistress — to Rockefeller, died at age 70 at a live-in medical facility in California on Oct. 2, based on her autobiographical obituary.

Her dying discover, which her brother confirmed she had written herself to the New York Instances, targeted largely on her lengthy profession in journalism but additionally included her time working for the previous Republican VP and four-term New York governor.

The entrance web page of the NY Publish, from January 29, 1979, options information about Nelson Rockefeller’s dying and Megan Marshack’s efforts to avoid wasting him.

“Megan Ruth Marshack, related world wide with the dying of former Vice-President Nelson Rockefeller, died October 2, 2024 of liver and kidney failure,” the very first line reads.

Marshack, then 25, was with Rockefeller when he died of a coronary heart assault in 1979. Particulars about his sudden dying, at age 70, rapidly modified over the course of the next days as reporters searched for information. As extra got here out, the place of dying and who was there was corrected greater than as soon as by the previous governor’s spokesperson.

The younger aide and aspiring journalist discovered herself on the heart of hypothesis and media consideration — as one of many final individuals to see Rockefeller alive late on a Friday evening. Rumors rapidly swirled a few attainable affair between the pair, and reporters trailed Marshack relentlessly, hoping she would converse.

However she by no means did — not even on her deathbed, based on family and friends who spoke to the Instances.

“My understanding is that, after he handed away, she signed a nondisclosure settlement with the household at their request, and that’s why she by no means spoke of it,” her brother advised the publication. “I believe she had a want to inform the story all alongside however held on to her obligation.”

Megan Marshack, in 1976, sporting glasses and a striped shirt, is thought for being current at Nelson Rockefeller’s workplace throughout his deadly coronary heart assault. AP

He stated he by no means pried.

Marshack doesn’t tackle the rumored relationship in her obituary however ends with a lyric from the 1975 musical “A Refrain Line” — “(However I) received’t overlook, can’t remorse what I did for love,” prompting hypothesis round its attainable allusions.

A good friend and former CBS colleague — whose provide to hearken to Marshack’s account of her relationship with Rockefeller to retell it after her dying was rejected by the journalist — advised the Instances her interpretation of the quote.

“I really feel that what Megan ‘did for love’ was maintain it non-public, in her coronary heart, relatively than reveal intimate particulars that might change into fodder for merciless jokes,” Laurie Nadel emailed the paper.

Comfortable and Nelson Rockefeller attending Henry Kissinger’s Undertaking HOPE Award for Worldwide Understanding social gathering on the Plaza Resort in New York. Penske Media by way of Getty Photos

Marshack first met Rockefeller whereas on project for a six-month Related Press trial at simply 22 years outdated. She was on the vice chairman’s press convention in Los Angeles and was advised to get a remark in regards to the federal authorities’s refusal to bail out New York Metropolis.

Rockefeller was answering questions in Spanish however the scrappy younger reporter budded in.

“Señor Vice Presidente,” she spoke up.

“Un momento, por favor,” he replied, based on her obituary.

“No, ahora, por favor,” Marshack reportedly demanded.

“Si?” Rockefeller requested.

Vice President Nelson Rockefeller delivered his acceptance speech on the White Home in 1974, standing at a podium with microphones. Getty Photos

“Now about New York Metropolis,” Marshack continued in English — drawing a collective snigger from the room.

“Marshack received her quote and apologized for interrupting as she and Rockefeller walked out of the information convention collectively,” she wrote in her obituary.

After failing to safe a full-time gig with the AP, Marshack utilized — and was accepted — to be on Rockefeller’s press staff. When he was dropped as President Ford’s operating mate, Rockefeller employed his staff, together with Marshack, again in New York.

She continued as his deputy press secretary and likewise labored because the director of his artwork assortment together with numerous different initiatives. She known as him “probably the most caring man and thoughtful boss I’ve met” in an article printed within the San Fernando Valley Information simply days earlier than he died.

Following his dying, she returned to journalism and labored for CBS Information and a neighborhood Placerville, California newspaper, the place she met her husband, Edmond Jacoby Jr. They married in 2003. He died final 12 months.

Marshack is survived by her brother,  Jon Marshack.


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