Personal Life
Lillian Lee McKim, nicknamed Lilly, was born to socialites Robert V. McKim and Lillian McKim (née Bostwick) in Roslyn, New York on November 10, 1931. She was the middle child, with older sister Mary Maude (called Memsey) and younger sister Florence Fitch (Flossie). Her mother, Lillian, was an heir to the Standard Oil fortune. Lillian divorced Robert and re-married Ogden Phipps in 1937.
Lilly attended the Chapin School in New York City, along with Bouvier sister Jacqueline Lee. In 1949, she graduated from Miss Porter's School in Farmington, Connecticut. She attended the college-finishing school Finch College in New York City, but left after one semester to work as a midwife's assistant in West Virginia and as a volunteer at the Veterans Hospital in The Bronx.
In 1950, she eloped with Herbert (Peter) Pulitzer Jr., the grandson of publisher Joseph Pulitzer. In 1969, Lilly and Peter were divorced. She married Enrique Rousseau shortly thereafter. Although she legally changed her name to Lillian Rousseau, her clothing company continued to operate under the "Lilly Pulitzer" label. Lilly continued to reside in Palm Beach. Rousseau died from cancer in 1993.
Lilly has three children from her marriage to Peter: Peter, Minnie, and Liza.
Read more about this topic: Lilly Pulitzer
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