Post by ۞Quaalude™۞ on Sept 20, 2011 2:14:39 GMT -5
Dolores Hope, 102, who throughout her 69-year marriage to comedian Bob Hope oversaw their charitable giving and played a key role in establishing the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif., has died.
Mrs. Hope died Monday of natural causes at her home in the Toluca Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles, publicist Harlan Boll said.
In the late 1960s, the Hopes donated 80 acres near their future Palm Springs estate for the medical center, which opened in 1971.
She served as chairwoman of the center's board for years, and he raised millions for it through the annual golf tournament that used to bear his name and is now known as the Humana Challenge.
"It was Mrs. Hope's vision that started this institution and she has worked for over 25 years to make it a reality," Albert C. Mour, then president of the medical center, wrote in the Los Angeles Times in 1990.
A great deal of the couple's fortune came from vast property holdings in the San Fernando Valley. At Bob Hope's death, their wealth had been estimated at as much as $500 million. Their multimillion-dollar Palm Springs estate was built in 1979.
On her 100th birthday in 2009, she attended a party in the backyard of the Toluca Lake home that she and her husband bought in 1938. At the event, daughter Linda Hope theorized that laughter in the family home contributed to her parents' long lives.
She was born Dolores DeFina on May 27, 1909, in New York City and grew up in the Bronx. During the 1930s, she sang in nightclubs using the stage name Dolores Reade and met Bob Hope when he caught a New York City show. They married in 1934 and soon shared the vaudeville stage.
While she raised their four adopted children, her husband's career took off and he was often away.
"When we were celebrating our 50th anniversary, people would say, 'Fifty years?' And Bob would say, 'Yeah, but I've only been home three weeks,' " she said in 1995 in the Palm Springs Desert Sun.
In addition to daughter Linda, she is survived by daughter Nora Somers; a son, Kelly; four grandchildren; and a great-grandchild. Another son, Anthony, died in 2004 R.I.P
QC
Mrs. Hope died Monday of natural causes at her home in the Toluca Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles, publicist Harlan Boll said.
In the late 1960s, the Hopes donated 80 acres near their future Palm Springs estate for the medical center, which opened in 1971.
She served as chairwoman of the center's board for years, and he raised millions for it through the annual golf tournament that used to bear his name and is now known as the Humana Challenge.
"It was Mrs. Hope's vision that started this institution and she has worked for over 25 years to make it a reality," Albert C. Mour, then president of the medical center, wrote in the Los Angeles Times in 1990.
A great deal of the couple's fortune came from vast property holdings in the San Fernando Valley. At Bob Hope's death, their wealth had been estimated at as much as $500 million. Their multimillion-dollar Palm Springs estate was built in 1979.
On her 100th birthday in 2009, she attended a party in the backyard of the Toluca Lake home that she and her husband bought in 1938. At the event, daughter Linda Hope theorized that laughter in the family home contributed to her parents' long lives.
She was born Dolores DeFina on May 27, 1909, in New York City and grew up in the Bronx. During the 1930s, she sang in nightclubs using the stage name Dolores Reade and met Bob Hope when he caught a New York City show. They married in 1934 and soon shared the vaudeville stage.
While she raised their four adopted children, her husband's career took off and he was often away.
"When we were celebrating our 50th anniversary, people would say, 'Fifty years?' And Bob would say, 'Yeah, but I've only been home three weeks,' " she said in 1995 in the Palm Springs Desert Sun.
In addition to daughter Linda, she is survived by daughter Nora Somers; a son, Kelly; four grandchildren; and a great-grandchild. Another son, Anthony, died in 2004 R.I.P
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