Lillian Stokes Phipps

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Lillian Stokes Phipps (Bostwick)

Birthdate:
Birthplace: New York, New York, United States
Death: November 27, 1987 (81)
Summerville, Dorchester, South Carolina, United States
Immediate Family:

Daughter of Alfred Carlton Bostwick and Mary Lillian Bostwick
Wife of Ogden Mills Phipps
Ex-wife of Robert Vanderburgh McKim
Mother of Ogden Mills Phipps, Jr; Cynthia Phipps; Private; Robert Lansing Phipps; Mary Maude McKim and 2 others
Sister of Dorothy Stokes Bostwick; Albert Carlton Bostwick, Jr., horse breeder & trainer; Dunbar Wright Bostwick and George Herbert "Pete" Bostwick

Occupation: a prominent horse owner, Businesswoman: Racehorse owner/breeder
Managed by: Stephan Sochoux
Last Updated:

About Lillian Stokes Phipps

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lillian_Bostwick_Phipps

Lillian Stokes Bostwick Phipps (July 9, 1906 – November 27, 1987) was an American socialite and owner of Thoroughbred steeplechase racehorses.

Biography

Born in New York, the daughter of Mary Stokes and Albert Carlton Bostwick (1876-1911), her wealthy grandfather, Jabez A. Bostwick, was one of John D. Rockefeller's founding partners in the Standard Oil Company.

Lillian Bostwick was raised in a Fifth Avenue mansion in New York City and as a young woman was listed in the 1930 New York Social Blue Book. Her father was a horseman and polo player whose influence on her and brothers George Herbert Bostwick, Dunbar and Albert Jr. led to them becoming involved with the sport of horse racing. In 1942, her only sister, Dorothy (1899-2001), became the first American woman to hold a helicopter pilot's license.

In the 1930s, Lillian Bostwick and brothers Pete and Dunbar built and operated Bostwick Field in Old Westbury, New York where they hosted international polo matches. First married in 1928 at Church of the Transfiguration to Robert V. McKim of Aiken, South Carolina, the couple had three daughters, including the fashion designer Lilly Pulitzer. In November 1937 at St. Bartholomew's Church she wed Court tennis champion and Thoroughbred breeder/owner Ogden Phipps, a member of the prominent Phipps family and nephew of Ogden L. Mills, the former United States Secretary of the Treasury.

While her husband successfully invested in Thoroughbred horses for flat racing, Lillian Bostwick Phipps purchased and raced a number of steeplechase racers. She owned Neji and Oedipus, two very prominent horses that were voted American Steepchase Champions five times in all, and who were both inducted into the U.S. Racing Hall of Fame. Mrs. Phipps won the American Grand National eight times with Oedipus (1951), Nedji (1955, 1957, 1958), Mako (1965), Top Bid (1973), Straight and True (1976), and Le Ronceray (1987).

A community benefactor, Lillian Bostwick Phipps served on the Board of Directors of the Visiting Nurse Service of New York, the Metropolitan Opera Association, and the Saratoga Performing Arts Center of which she was also its Chairperson.

Lillian Bostwick Phipps and her husband maintained residences in New York City, Saratoga Springs, Florida and at Summerville, South Carolina where she died in 1987. Her interior design team of Robert Denning & Vincent Fourcade from the inception of their firm in 1960 had been involved with acquisitions and style in all of their fifteen homes and she has been credited with playing a significant role in launching the team.

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Lillian Stokes Phipps's Timeline

1906
July 9, 1906
New York, New York, United States
1922
1922
1931
November 10, 1931
Palm Beach, Palm Beach, Florida, United States
1940
September 18, 1940
1945
March 24, 1945
Manhattan, New York County, New York, United States
1987
November 27, 1987
Age 81
Summerville, Dorchester, South Carolina, United States