Nancy Kissinger
American foreign policy specialist (1934–2026)
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Nancy Sharon Kissinger (née Maginnes; April 13, 1934 – August 20, 2026) was an American foreign policy specialist,[1] aide to New York governor Nelson Rockefeller, and the wife of U.S. secretary of state Henry Kissinger, who served in that role from 1973 to 1977. The couple was married on March 30, 1974, in Arlington, Virginia.[2]
April 13, 1934
Nancy Kissinger | |
|---|---|
Kissinger in 1988 | |
| Born | Nancy Sharon Maginnes April 13, 1934 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | August 20, 2026 (aged 92) South Kent, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Education | |
| Occupation | Foreign policy specialist[1] |
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (183 cm) |
| Spouse | |
Early life
Nancy Maginnes was born in Manhattan and raised in White Plains, New York. She attended The Masters School in Dobbs Ferry, New York. Her parents were Agnes (born McKinley) and Albert Bristol Maginnes, a wealthy lawyer and football player.[3]
She received a B.A. in history in 1955 from Mount Holyoke College and later took a sabbatical from her Rockefeller research job to study at the Sorbonne in the late 1960s.[4]
Career
Before her marriage, she was a foreign policy aide to New York governor Nelson Rockefeller,[5] recommended to him in 1964 by Kissinger, then a professor at Harvard, where she was a student. Her first job was as Kissinger's researcher on a Rockefeller task force; she continued working for Rockefeller at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund after the task force finished its work.[6] She later became director of international studies for Rockefeller's Commission on Critical Choices for Americans.[5]
Kissinger was notably one of the tallest female public figures of her era, at 6 ft 0 in (183 cm) tall.[7][8] In one newsreel of her accompanying Henry Kissinger during a 1975 meeting with Chinese Communist Party leadership, Mao Zedong looked with amazement at the height difference between the couple.[9]
Death
Kissinger died in South Kent, Connecticut on August 20, 2026, at the age of 92.[1]