Vice President Nelson Rockefeller’s former deputy press secretary acknowledged her notoriety with the politician’s demise in a self-written obituary revealed earlier this month after a lifetime of silence on the subject.
Journalist Megan Marshack, as soon as a younger aide — and long-speculated mistress — to Rockefeller, died at age 70 at a live-in medical facility in California on Oct. 2, in keeping with her autobiographical obituary.
Her demise discover, which her brother confirmed she had written herself to the New York Instances, targeted largely on her lengthy profession in journalism but in addition included her time working for the previous Republican VP and four-term New York governor.
“Megan Ruth Marshack, related around the globe with the demise of former Vice-President Nelson Rockefeller, died October 2, 2024 of liver and kidney failure,” the very first line reads.
Marshack, then 25, was with Rockefeller when he died of a coronary heart assault in 1979. Particulars about his sudden demise, at age 70, shortly modified over the course of the next days as reporters searched for information. As extra got here out, the place of demise and who was there was corrected greater than as soon as by the previous governor’s spokesperson.
The younger aide and aspiring journalist discovered herself on the heart of hypothesis and media consideration — as one of many final individuals to see Rockefeller alive late on a Friday night time. Rumors shortly swirled a couple of potential affair between the pair, and reporters trailed Marshack relentlessly, hoping she would communicate.
However she by no means did — not even on her deathbed, in keeping with family and friends who spoke to the Instances.
“My understanding is that, after he handed away, she signed a nondisclosure settlement with the household at their request, and that’s why she by no means spoke of it,” her brother informed the publication. “I believe she had a need to inform the story all alongside however held on to her obligation.”
He stated he by no means pried.
Marshack doesn’t tackle the rumored relationship in her obituary however ends with a lyric from the 1975 musical “A Refrain Line” — “(However I) gained’t neglect, can’t remorse what I did for love,” prompting hypothesis round its potential allusions.
A good friend and former CBS colleague — whose supply to hearken to Marshack’s account of her relationship with Rockefeller to retell it after her demise was rejected by the journalist — informed the Instances her interpretation of the quote.
“I really feel that what Megan ‘did for love’ was hold it personal, in her coronary heart, somewhat than reveal intimate particulars that would turn out to be fodder for merciless jokes,” Laurie Nadel emailed the paper.
Marshack first met Rockefeller whereas on task for a six-month Related Press trial at simply 22 years outdated. She was on the vice chairman’s press convention in Los Angeles and was informed to get a remark concerning the federal authorities’s refusal to bail out New York Metropolis.
Rockefeller was answering questions in Spanish however the scrappy younger reporter budded in.
“Señor Vice Presidente,” she spoke up.
“Un momento, por favor,” he replied, in keeping with her obituary.
“No, ahora, por favor,” Marshack reportedly demanded.
“Si?” Rockefeller requested.
“Now about New York Metropolis,” Marshack continued in English — drawing a collective giggle from the room.
“Marshack acquired her quote and apologized for interrupting as she and Rockefeller walked out of the information convention collectively,” she wrote in her obituary.
After failing to safe a full-time gig with the AP, Marshack utilized — and was accepted — to be on Rockefeller’s press staff. When he was dropped as President Ford’s working mate, Rockefeller employed his staff, together with Marshack, again in New York.
She continued as his deputy press secretary and likewise labored because the director of his artwork assortment together with numerous different initiatives. She known as him “essentially the most caring man and thoughtful boss I’ve met” in an article revealed within the San Fernando Valley Information simply days earlier than he died.
Following his demise, she returned to journalism and labored for CBS Information and a neighborhood Placerville, California newspaper, the place she met her husband, Edmond Jacoby Jr. They married in 2003. He died final yr.
Marshack is survived by her brother, Jon Marshack.
