Nancy Kissinger

Nancy Sharon Kissinger (née Maginnes; born April 13, 1934) is an American philanthropist and Rockefeller political aide, and the widow of former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. The couple married on March 30, 1974, in Arlington, Virginia.^[1]

Nancy Kissinger
Kissinger at the Metropolitan Opera season opening in September 2009
Born	Nancy Sharon Maginnes (1934-04-13) April 13, 1934 (age 91) New York City, U.S.
Education	Mount Holyoke College (BA) Harvard University
Occupation	Philanthropist
Height	6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Spouse	Henry Kissinger ​ ​ (m. 1974; died 2023)​

Life and career

Nancy and Henry Kissinger in their New York City apartment with their dog Tyler, 1978

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.^[2] 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.^[3]

Before her marriage, she was a long-time aide to New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller, 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.^[4] She was notably one of the tallest female public figures of her era, at 6'0" (183cm) tall.^[5][6] She later became director of international studies for Rockefeller's Commission on Critical Choices for Americans.^[7]