Rachel ?Bunny? Mellon, the Listerine fortune heiress who married arts patron and philanthropist Paul Mellon, was a confidante of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and redesigned the White House Rose Garden, died March 17 at her home in Upperville, Va. She was 103.
he Mellons donated more than 1,000 objects to the National Gallery of Art, including paintings by Cezanne, Degas and van Gogh. With Mellon?s sister and a family foundation, they also funded the construction of the gallery?s East Building, designed by architect I.M. Pei, in the 1970s.. ...
John Edwards, a North Carolina Democrat, was tried in 2012 on charges that he took nearly $1 million in illegal campaign contributions from wealthy donors to support his mistress, Rielle Hunter, and conceal her from voters during his 2008 bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. Prosecutors attributed more than $700,000 to Mrs. Mellon.
In her 90s, her husband and many of her friends, including Jackie Kennedy, had died. Her daughter, struck by a truck in New York, was in a coma for eight years before her death. In her loneliness, Mrs. Mellon found John Edwards charming and handsome, and she recalled the aura of John Kennedy.
During Edwards?s trial, observers sought to explain why Mrs. Mellon would funnel money to the politician while trying to hide the payments from her attorney, Alexander Forger. ?She liked him as a person,? Forger said.
