Megan Marshack Dies at 70; Was With Nelson Rockefeller at His Death
She was at the center of rumors about the former vice president’s last moments, but she remained silent about their association until she wrote her own obituary.
Megan Marshack, who as a young aide to Nelson A. Rockefeller found herself at the center of sensational conjecture about the circumstances of his sudden death in 1979, died on Oct. 2 in Sacramento. She was 70.
Her death, at a live-in medical facility, was announced in an obituary that her brother, Jon Marshack, said she had written herself last year and that was posted by a Sacramento funeral home on its website. Mr. Marshack, her sole immediate survivor, said the cause was liver and kidney failure.
The obituary represented Ms. Marshack’s first public comment about Mr. Rockefeller, the former Republican vice president and New York governor, since she witnessed his death, also at 70, on Jan. 26, 1979. Ms. Marshack, who was widely believed to have been romantically involved with Mr. Rockefeller, had for decades remained silent about the circumstances of the death.
In its aftermath, she found herself in the odd position of a journalist avoiding journalists. As an editor of syndicated television news, she wished not to be in the spotlight herself, but reporters followed her on the street and even into the subway, hoping she would say something about Mr. Rockefeller’s last night.
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Ms. Marshack’s self-written obituary disclosed some previously unreported details about her association with Mr. Rockefeller but did not mention a romance — although it ended suggestively, quoting from the 1975 musical “A Chorus Line.” Ms. Marshack wrote that she “won’t forget, can’t regret what I did for love.”
The initial account of Mr. Rockefeller’s death was supplied by Hugh Morrow, his longtime spokesman, after midnight on Jan. 27. He told The New York Times that Mr. Rockefeller had died instantly, at 10:15 p.m., while he was in his office, alone with a bodyguard, “having a wonderful time” working on an art book he was writing.
The next day, The Times began deconstructing the official story. The paper reported that someone called 911 to report Mr. Rockefeller’s death an hour after he was reported to have died; that Mr. Rockefeller was not at his office but rather at a brownstone he used as a clubhouse; and that at the time he was with Ms. Marshack, who was identified as a research assistant.
A drip-drip of revelations ensued. First The Times reported that it was Ms. Marshack who called 911; then the paper said that the caller had actually been a friend of hers, who lived in the same apartment building as Ms. Marshack, down the block from Mr. Rockefeller’s brownstone. It also turned out that Mr. Rockefeller had given Ms. Marshack the money for her apartment, a loan amounting to $45,000 (about $200,000 in today’s money), which he forgave in his will, along with other loans to top aides.
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The writer Alexander Cockburn praised The Times in The Washington Post for its “excellent coverage.” Others disagreed. “The establishment press discarded traditional notions of privacy, and keyhole journalism was redefined as the public’s right to know,” Richard Norton Smith wrote in a 2014 biography, “On His Own Terms: A Life of Nelson Rockefeller.”
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New York’s tabloid newspapers wrote about Ms. Marshack almost daily and referred to her in headlines by her first name. “She has forever been labeled The Woman Who Was There,” The Washington Post wrote in a profile.
The circumstances of Mr. Rockefeller’s death remain mysterious. One account said that he was found dead wearing a suit and tie and surrounded by working papers; another said that he was nude, amid containers of Chinese food. Several credible sources indicated that he did not actually die at his brownstone but rather at Ms. Marshack’s apartment. The cause of death is generally understood to have been a heart attack.
Aside from minimal statements confirming that she had indeed been with Mr. Rockefeller when he died — released to The Times by Mr. Morrow immediately after Mr. Rockefeller’s death — Ms. Marshack never publicly commented on any of the accounts.
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“My understanding is that, after he passed away, she signed a nondisclosure agreement with the family at their request, and that’s why she never spoke of it,” Ms. Marshack’s brother said in an interview. “I think she had a desire to tell the story all along but held on to her obligation.”
In February 1979, four of Mr. Rockefeller’s children released a joint statement saying that Ms. Marshack “did her best to save him” and expressing regret for “errors” in the announcements of his death.
Ms. Marshack was born on Oct. 31, 1953, in Los Angeles. She and her brother were adopted from separate families as infants and grew up in the Sherman Oaks neighborhood. She was given the name Megan Ruth Marshack.
Her father, Sidney Marshack, was an aerospace engineer, and her mother, Credwyn (Patricia) Marshack, taught piano at their home.
Ms. Marshack studied history and journalism at California State University, Northridge, and graduated in 1975.
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She was in the midst of a six-month reporting tryout for The Associated Press in 1975 when, at 22, she was assigned to attend a news conference in Los Angeles held by Mr. Rockefeller, who was then vice president, with the aim of asking him specifically about the financial crisis then threatening New York City. Mr. Rockefeller, addressing issues concerning Latin America, was answering questions in Spanish.
By her account, Ms. Marshack decided to break in, saying, “Señor Vice Presidente …”
“Un momento, por favor,” Mr. Rockefeller said.
“No, ahora, por favor,” Ms. Marshack replied.
“Sí?” Mr. Rockefeller asked.
“Now about New York City,” Ms. Marshack continued. The room broke out in laughter.
When the news conference ended, she and the vice president walked out together.
After learning that she would not get a full-time position at The A.P., Ms. Marshack applied to be a press aide to Mr. Rockefeller in Washington. Knowing he loved Oreo cookies, she showed up for her job interview with a tray of them individually wrapped, each tied with a bow.
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She got the job and was charged with writing letters that he wanted to sign personally. The duty granted her an office with a private entrance to his.
President Gerald R. Ford chose to drop Mr. Rockefeller from the 1976 Republican presidential ticket in favor of Senator Bob Dole of Kansas. When Mr. Rockefeller’s term ended, he brought Ms. Marshack and other aides back to his home office in New York City. Most of them addressed him as “Governor”; Ms. Marshack called him “Nelson.”
In interviews with Mr. Smith for his book, Rockefeller associates said it was an open secret that Mr. Rockefeller and Ms. Marshack were having an affair. He was married at the time to Margaretta Rockefeller, who was known as Happy.
In an article published in The San Fernando Valley News just days before his death, Ms. Marshack was quoted as calling Mr. Rockefeller “the most caring man and considerate boss I’ve met.”
In the early 1980s, Ms. Marshack worked in the news syndication department of CBS and was involved in the coverage of events including the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, in the former Yugoslavia, and the trial of Mehmet Ali Agca in the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II. In 1998, she moved to Placerville, Calif., for a job with The Mountain Democrat, a local newspaper.
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She married a colleague, Edmond Jacoby Jr., in 2003. He died last year after sustaining injuries in a car accident. A year earlier, Ms. Marshack moved to Sacramento to be closer to her brother.
Mr. Marshack said he never asked his sister about what happened with Mr. Rockefeller.
Laurie Nadel, a friend from CBS who became a psychotherapist and author, said in an interview that her literary agent once predicted that she could get Ms. Marshack an advance of $1 million for a tell-all memoir. Ms. Marshack took a lunch meeting with the agent but decided she did not want “to make money off this tragedy,” Dr. Nadel said.
When Ms. Marshack was dying, Dr. Nadel offered to listen to everything she had to say about Mr. Rockefeller and act as the posthumous bearer of the tale. Ms. Marshack declined.
In an email, Dr. Nadel wrote: “I feel that what Megan ‘did for love’ was keep it private, in her heart, rather than reveal intimate details that could become fodder for cruel jokes.”
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