Marjorie Merriweather Post

Marjorie Merriweather Post (March 15, 1887 – September 12, 1973) (or Marjorie Merriweather Post Close Hutton Davies May) was a leading American socialite and the founder of General Foods, Inc. She was 27 when her father died, and she became the owner of the rapidly growing Postum Cereal Company. In 1923 her husband E. F. Hutton became the chairman of the board of the Postum Cereal Company, and they developed a larger variety of food products, including Birdseye Frozen Foods. The company became the General Foods Corporation.

She was born in Springfield, Illinois, U.S., the daughter of C. W. Post and Ella Letitia Merriweather.

She married four times: In 1905 Post married investment banker Edward Bennett Close of Greenwich, Connecticut: They divorced in 1919. Their eldest daughter Adelaide married banker Augustus Riggs ; their second daughter, Eleanor Post Close, later Eleanor Post Hutton, married director Preston Sturges. By his second marriage, Edward Close would become the paternal grandfather of actress Glenn Close.

Secondly, she married, in 1920, Edward F. Hutton, financier: They divorced in 1935. Their only child, Nedenia, became an actress under the name Dina Merrill.

Thirdly, she married, in 1935, Joseph E. Davies , a Washington lawyer: They divorced in 1955. The couple lived in the Soviet Union from 1937 to 1938, while he served as American ambassador to the Soviet Union. Their home on Long Island, New York, became C. W. Post College, which is now C. W. Post Campus of Long Island University.

Her final marriage occurred in 1958 to Herbert A. May Jr. ; May had been previously been very briefly married to Mellon banking heiress Cordelia Scaife . They divorced in 1964. Following her divorce from May, she reclaimed her full maiden name of Marjorie Merriweather Post.

Marjorie Merriweather Post was also known for her lavish homes, the largest of which was Mar-A-Lago in West Palm Beach, Florida. Designed by Addison Minzer , Mar-A-Lago was purchased from Post Family Trust by Donald Trump. Trump in turn had the 110,000 square foot house completely restored to its original state. Mrs. Post’s other estate, Hillwood (Washington, D.C.) is operated as a museum. Along with her second husband E.F. Hutton, she was the owner Sea Cloud (Hussar V), the largest privatly owned sea going yacht in the world.

The Merriweather Post Pavilion, an outdoor concert venue, in Columbia, Maryland is named for her.