Jerry zipkin biography

Truman Capote referred to Zipkin as "the man with a face shaped like a bidet". All that "stuff," and he's still dead. What good did it all do him? Quatorze is on to something I believe he received tremendous pleasure from all that "stuff". That is the good it did for him!! He is still dead; but he had a hell of a time Predictably; I adore this apartment.

Everything has a story. I can just tell. He was a personality and a collector. I find it all very, very chic. Not my individual taste; better yet, very representative of him. And he lived there his whole life. I get the antiques store description; but, "Lilliput"? I don't get that part! I adore your posts on past decorating I wouldn't change anything about this apartment if I were decorating for him today.

Maybe he did it himself; I would love to know!!! I've known it for two months and kept it secret. You could trust Jerry with your soul. In the s he became like the chief eunuch of the last empress of China. Jerome Robert Zipkin, the son of Annette Goldstein and David Zipkin, a successful real-estate operator, was born on December 14, , in New York City, and lived for most of his life in a room apartment at Park Avenue, which his father built.

He attended the Hun School in Princeton, New Jersey, and spent summers with his parents and younger sister, Eleanor, at Elberon-by-the-Sea, a Jersey Shore resort frequented by well-to-do Jewish families. In he entered Princeton University, where he majored in art and archaeology and was a member of the fencing and tennis teams and the debating society.

He left Princeton in his junior year, with the stated intent of traveling in Europe. The real reason, according to a friend, was a nervous breakdown. Jerry wasn't visibly anything. He always kept a veil around his private life. His father was a sweet old boy. His mother was taking a course in Flemish art. They had art around the house. The first Matisse drawing I had he gave me as a wedding present in Steven Kaufman, a Seventh Avenue fashion executive, met Zipkin that same year and became a fast friend of the family.

Zip was a c-a-m-p," he said.

Jerry zipkin biography

After Daddy died, in , he bought her a lot of clothes. Balenciaga was his favorite. They were both ardent Republicans, to the point of nausea. Starting in the early s, they also rented a house in Beverly Hills for part of each year. One of his first New York social sponsor was Ruby Schinasi, the wife of a Turkii tobacco tycoon who entertained lavishly at her Riverside Drive mansion, and introduced him to the Hollywood movie star he would remain close to for the rest of his life, Claudette Colbert ; he was also devoted to Joan Bennett more than ever after the scandal of her husband, Walter Wanger, shooting her lover, Jennings Lang.

In his later years, Zipkin would tell friends that he spent the war "gathering information for the O. Zipkin would also proudly announce "I've never worked a day in my life. He ran the business until he realized it was interfering with his social life, so he sold it. And from then on he specialized in friendship. It became his profession. He had contempt only for uninteresting people, and he had a witty way of showing it.

The cause of death was lung cancer, according to Steven Kaufman, a longtime friend who was with Zipkin when he died. Also present were two other close companions, former first lady Nancy Reagan and Louise Grunwald. Although he lived alone for virtually his entire adult life, Jerry Zipkin was most often seen in the company of others, usually women of a lofty social stature.

When they needed an escort to a charity ball or a private dinner party because their husbands were too busy or too bored, Zipkin was available. When they wanted to sit with an amusing companion at a major fashion show, someone with whom they could dish with discretion, Zipkin did not disappoint. A short, stocky man with a large head and strong features, Zipkin was a fastidious dresser and a zealous collector.

Zipkin was a Park Avenue multimillionaire who inherited his money, but unlike his father, an enormously successful real estate operator, he never allowed himself to be overly distracted by matters of commerce. He usually slept until 11 a. Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version.

In other projects. Wikidata item. American socialite — Early life [ edit ]. Socialite [ edit ].