Peggy Mellon Hitchcock, the energetic scion of a storied wealthy family who funded Timothy Leary’s psychedelic adventures — and famously helped him find the spot to do so, at her brothers’ estate in Millbrook, N.Y. — died on April 9 at her home in Tucson, Ariz. She was 90.
Ms. Hitchcock had been suffering from endometrial cancer.
Timothy Leary hadn’t yet been thrown out of Harvard for his experiments with psychedelic drugs when he met Ms. Hitchcock one weekend at the apartment of Maynard Ferguson, the jazz trumpeter and bandleader, in the Riverdale section of the Bronx.
“Pretty Peggy Hitchcock was an international jet-setter,” Mr. Leary wrote in his 1983 autobiography, “Flashbacks,” “renowned as the colorful patroness of the livelier arts and confidante of jazz musicians, racecar drivers, writers, movie stars.
Stylish, and with a wry sense of humor, Peggy was considered the most innovative and artistic of the Andrew Mellon family” — that is, the family of the Pittsburgh industrialist who was secretary of the Treasury under three presidents.
Persons:
Peggy Mellon Hitchcock, Timothy, —, Sophia Bowart, Hitchcock, Timothy Leary hadn’t, Harvard, Maynard Ferguson, Peggy Hitchcock, Mr, Leary, ”, Peggy, Andrew Mellon
Organizations:
Pittsburgh
Locations:
Millbrook, N.Y, Tucson, Ariz, Riverdale