D AV I D PAT R I C K C O L U M B I A the art, the interiors, the porcelains, marbles, and furniture remain superb. You get the feeling that Mr. Frick was that disciplined and orderly in his acquisitive powers. He lived there for only five years, from its completion to his death in 1919. It was also his wish that this house would become the museum that it is today. Last Monday afternoon, mid-month, at 5:30 at 583 Park Avenue, there was a memorial for John Gutfreund who died two weeks ago on March 2. He was 86. He had been seriously ailing for more than two years. I knew of John Gutfreund long before I ever met him. The Gutfreunds created a so-
cial splash that was worthy of reporting for its extravagance and style. Mrs. Gutfreund, a brilliant Francophile—and an autodidact of history, society, and the decorative arts—created for herself and her husband an interesting life hobnobbing with the international world of tycoons, European aristocrats, politicians, bankers, and scions of the lifestyle which she herself achieved. It was said that her husband, a major Wall Street banker, very much enjoyed the fruits of his labors through his wife’s interests and pursuits. I later learned more about him as a businessman when he fell from grace—after a long and financially profitable
assent—at the Wall Street investment bank of Salomon Brothers & Hutzler, later just Salomon and then finally Philbro, which acquired it. That acquisition was, in a way, John Gutfreund’s coup d’etat in the final wresting of control of the firm. It was also the beginning of the end of his career because of legal problems that arose in the trading department shortly thereafter. He resigned his position and paid a multi-million dollar fine. At the time of his legal problems, his reputation as a businessman became more public in newspaper accounts of the matter. The personality profile that emerged was a man who was very sharp
mentally and could detect the weakest link in a deal. My experience of knowing John Gutfreund came after his great fall, a little more than two decades ago. We met at dinners, and our entire relationship was basically dinner table conversation and acquaintanceship. I came to know his wife, Susan, better but the man I knew from the media and the gossip mills was, aside from his reported professional circumstances, gracious, stolidly intelligent, and without pretense. When I read in the obituaries that he had majored in English in college, and had considered being a writer or an actor or working in theatre as a young
SOCIET Y OF MEMORIAL SLOAN KETTERING CANCER CENTER HELD ITS ANNUAL “BUNNY HOP”
Emilia Fanjul Pfeifler with Francesca and Emilia 38 QUEST
Shelley Rapp with Tyler
Marcie Pantzer with Miles
Eliza Nordeman with Zahra
Ashley Ristau with Thompson
Wibby Sevener with Poppy
Rebecca Minkoff with Bowie
B FA . CO M
Arriana Boardman with Olympia