Drue Heinz | |
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 Drue Heinz, 1955 | |
| Born | Doreen Mary English March 8, 1915 (1915-03-08) Norfolk, England |
| Died | (aged 103) Lasswade,Midlothian, Scotland |
| Spouses |
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Drue Heinz,DBE (bornDoreen Mary English; March 8, 1915 – March 30, 2018) was a British-born American actress, philanthropist, arts patron, and socialite.[1][2] She was the publisher of the literary magazineThe Paris Review (1993 to 2007), co-foundedEcco Press, founded literary retreats and endowed theDrue Heinz Literature Prize among others.[3] She was married toH. J. Heinz II, president ofHeinz.
Born Doreen Mary English inNorfolk,England to Patrick Harry English, an army officer, and Edith English (née Wodehouse),[3] she first married John Mackenzie Robertson with whom she had one daughter, Wendy Mackenzie. Her second husband was Dale Wilford Maher, the first Secretary of the U. S.Legation inJohannesburg, South Africa (died 1948).[4] They had a daughter Marigold Randall. In 1953, Drue became the third wife ofH. J. Heinz II (1908–87), then president ofHeinz company and heir to the Heinz fortune.[3] With Heinz she became the stepmother ofJohn Heinz (1938–91) who later became aPennsylvaniaUnited States Senator.[3]
Prior to her marriage to Heinz she was an actress. As "Doreen English" she had a small role in the 1948 movieUneasy Terms, which starredMichael Rennie.[5] Using the name Drue Mallory, she was cast in three 1950 movies,Please Believe Me, starringDeborah Kerr,Three Came Home andBreakthrough.[3]
The Heinz home in Pittsburgh was called "Goodwood", inSewickley Heights.[3] They also had an apartment in New York's Upper East Side, and a winter retreat inHobe Sound, Florida.[3] For many years, their British home wasAscot Place atNorth Ascot inWinkfield,Berkshire.[3] Heinz would buy houses, restore them and turn them into writers' retreats.[3] She purchasedHawthornden Castle, a medieval fortress outsideEdinburgh, Scotland and made it into a place for writers to live and work called the Hawthornden Literary Retreat. The Heinz Italian home, called Villa Maresi, was onLake Como in the town ofGriante.[2] She called it "Casa Ecco", and writers would go there for discussions. "She was very close toTom Wolfe,Norman Mailer,Andy Warhol,Harold Pinter andAntonia Fraser," according to Daniel Halpern, founder of Ecco Press.[3]
Of her character,Teresa Heinz said "Drue was a very private person but she came to know an amazing group of people in her life. She was smart and passionate and deeply interested in art, literature, and especially poetry."[2] Of her reputation,Jonathan Galassi, President,Farrar, Straus and Giroux, said
Heinz died on March 30, 2018, at age 103, at Hawthornden Castle[6] inLasswade, Scotland.[7][8]
In 1971, with the encouragement of her friendJames Laughlin, she co-foundedEcco Press.[2] In addition to the literary magazineAntaeus, which she funded from 1970 to its closing in 1994, Ecco published many out of print books, and was one of the leading US publishers of poetry.[2]
Heinz began supporting the University of Pittsburgh's fiction prize in 1980. In 1995, she endowed the prize with a $1 million gift at which point it became known as the Drue Heinz Literature Prize. The prize publishes collections of short fiction through theUniversity of Pittsburgh Press.[3] "The revenue from that million has exceeded the needs of the press for publication and promotion of the Heinz books so it keeps growing," said Ed Ochester, editor of the press in 2018.[3] Heinz also endowed theHawthornden Prize for many years.[2]
When the archives ofThe Paris Review were sold to theMorgan Library in 1999, Heinz paid the purchase price of $850,000.[3] Heinz was close friends with the founder,George Plimpton, and was herself publisher of theReview from 1993 to 2007.[3] Heinz was among those who helped found the paper in 1953 and over the years help fund it.[3]
In 1970, she restored an old movie theater into theHeinz Hall for the Performing Arts, which was the founding institution of what would later become theCultural District, Pittsburgh.[3] Heinz gave $10 million to Carnegie Institute for the creation of theHeinz Architectural Center in 1990.[3] Heinz also supported London'sTate Gallery and theRoyal Institute of British Architects.[3] Funds from her foundation help publish theLincoln Center Theater Review.[9]
She was the sponsor ofThe Royal Oak Foundation's Drue Heinz Lecture Series and served as the Foundation's Honorary Chairman. In 2002, Heinz endowed a Chair jointly held atSt. John's College, Oxford and theRothermere American Institute,University of Oxford called the Drue Heinz Professor of American Literature.[3] She endowed the position of the Drue Heinz Librarian at theAmerican Academy in Rome. She sponsored the Literary Evenings, Monday Night Lecture Series produced by Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures inPittsburgh,Pennsylvania, and the Drue Heinz Study Center for Drawings and Prints at theNational Design Museum.[3] She was on the board of theMetropolitan Museum of Art, theMacDowell Colony, thePierpont Morgan Library, the American Academy in Rome and served on the International Council of theMuseum of Modern Art.[2] She joined the board of the Howard Heinz Endowment in 1973, which later became theHeinz Endowments, and became Director Emeritus in 1994.[2] She was also a board member of theCarnegie Museum of Art.[2]
Her private foundation, the Drue Heinz Trust, had assets of $36 million according to its 2015 tax return.[3]
Heinz was named anHonorary Dame Commander of The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in July 1995.[3] In 2002, Heinz was selected as an Honorary Fellow of theRoyal Society of Literature.[10][3] She was an Honorary Fellow ofHertford College, Oxford.
