Edith Rockefeller McCormick

As wealthy socialites, with two family fortunes available, the McCormicks were prominent in Chicago social and cultural circles, donating large amounts of money and time to causes.[1] Edith helped fund the juvenile probation program of Chicago's pioneering Juvenile Court system when it was revealed that, although legislation set up the system, there was no provision to fund the probation officers. Edith began support of the Art Institute in 1909 as a charter member and supported it with monetary contributions and loans from her extensive personal art collection. She and Harold, along with other wealthy patrons, founded the Grand Opera Company, the first in Chicago, in 1909.[7]

In 1913, she travelled to Zurich to be treated for depression by Carl Gustav Jung and contributed generously to the Zürich Psychological Society.[8] After extended analysis and intense study, Edith became a Jungian analyst, with a full-time practice of more than fifty patients. She would continue her practice after her return to America, attracting many socialite patients from around the United States. In order to disseminate Jung's ideas, Edith paid to have his writings translated into English.[9] From February 1918 until October 1919, she provided James Joyce with a monthly benefaction.[10] In 1919 McCormick donated land she had received from her father as a wedding gift to the Forest Preserve of Cook County, to be developed as a zoological garden, later to become Chicago's Brookfield Zoo. Edith later explained that her donation was motivated by a fascination with animal psychology.[11] She returned to America in 1921 after an eight-year stay.[12]

Edith and Harold were divorced in December 1921.[13] He was given custody of their youngest daughter Mathilde so that she could marry Max Oser, a Swiss riding instructor. Mathilde and Max were married in London in April 1923. Meanwhile, Harold married Ganna Walska, a Polish opera singer in August 1922, becoming her fourth husband. Within days of Harold's remarriage, Edith announced plans to marry Edward Krenn, a 28-year-old Austrian architect. The plan fell through for undisclosed reasons in December 1922. In 1927, she was mentioned in a newspaper article about Chicago's wealthy unmarried, divorced, and widowed wealthy women. The article noted that she was "glad to be rid of the gay Harold McCormick, but hasn't succeeded in convincing her friends she will never marry again."[14] Over the next few years, Edith and Harold frequently found themselves in court in lawsuits over the divorce agreement.[15]

In February 1923, she received some minor press for claiming to be the reincarnation of the wife of King Tutankhamen, whose tomb had just been explored and was a popular topic. She was quoted as saying, "I married King Tutankhamen when I was only sixteen years old. I was his first wife. Only the other day, while glancing through an illustrated paper, I saw a picture of a chair removed from the King's chamber. Like a flash, I recognized that chair. I had sat in it many times."[16] She followed up in Time magazine by stating "My interest in reincarnation is of many years' standing."[17] She was also said to be interested in astrology and to celebrate Christmas on December 15.

In 1925, she and other wealthy Chicago women including Miss Helen M. Bennett, Mrs. John V. Farwell, Mrs. Silas Strawn, Mrs. John Alden Carpenter, Mrs. B.F. Langworthy, Mrs. Florence Fifer Bohrer, and Mrs. Medill McCormick sponsored an international exposition to celebrate the progress and achievements of American women – The first Woman's World's Fair, which was held at the American Exposition Palace on Lake Michigan in April 1925, and was held again each year in Chicago in April or May from 1926 to 1928. A local paper noted, of the first fair, that "One feature of the exhibit will be a collection of newspaper and magazine clippings, from various countries during the last 200 years emphasizing the storm of protest which greeted every suggestion for a freer social status for women."[18] Newspaper articles mention organizing troubles that caused it to be cancelled in 1929. It was not held thereafter.

In 1930, Edith had a growth removed from her breast and died of cancer two years later on August 25, 1932,[19] surrounded by her family.[20][21] She and two of her children, John and Editha, are buried in Graceland Cemetery in Chicago. At the time of her death, her estate, through the Edith Rockefeller McCormick Trust set up by her father in 1923, consisted mostly of real estate and no longer held much Standard Oil stock.[22]