Marjorie Merriweather Post was born in 1887. The only child of Charles W. and Ella Post, she was close to her father, who made his fortune as a breakfast food pioneer.
When Charles Post died in 1914, Marjorie became the Postum Cereal Company’s largest shareholder. She was only 27. In the years that followed, Postum acquired other food companies, including Jell-O and Birdseye Frosted Foods. The growing multimillion dollar business eventually became General Foods Corporation.
As a philanthropist Post said, “wealth is a greater responsibility than it is a privilege.” She gave generously to the Red Cross and the Salvation Army. She was also known as a gracious hostess. She built a luxurious estate in Palm Beach, Florida designed to host the large parties she loved to throw. She named it Mar-a-Lago.
Upon her death in 1973, she willed Mar-a-Lago to the U.S. government.
Learn more in the Jacqueline Thompson papers at UW’s American Heritage Center