Ivan Sergeyevich Obolensky (May 15, 1925 – January 29, 2019) was an American financial analyst and corporate officer. He was previously commissioned in the United States Navy, serving as a Flight Lieutenant, and had also been a publisher.[1] He died on January 29, 2019.[2]
After Yale, Obolensky became a writer working for Telavid Inc. Imports, and went on to serve with the United States Navy as a pilot. In 1957, he formed a publishing firm McDowell, Obolensky Inc. with a partner, David McDowell. The firm published James Agee's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel A Death in the Family (1957), Joan Didion's debut novel Run, River (1963), and was the U.S. publisher for Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart (1959). It was dissolved in 1960. Obolensky then formed a second publishing house, Ivan Obolensky, Inc. This firm continued through 1965, when he joined the investment banking firm of A. T. Brod & Company as a partner.[1] The publishing house continued until 1968 under the name Astor-Honor.
Obolensky first married in New York City on October 10, 1949, to Claire Elizabeth McGinnis (1929–2015).[7][8] Claire was educated at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and at Miss Burke's School, both in San Francisco, and at Finch College in Manhattan. She was the daughter of Felix Signoret McGinnis (1883–1945), vice-president of the Southern Pacific Company, and Clara (née Leonhardt) McGinnis (1887–1984). Before their divorce in 1956,[9] Ivan and Claire were the parents of one daughter and two sons:
Marina "Maria" Ivanovna Obolensky (b. 1951), who married N. Carlton. She later married William D. Folwick (1932–2017).[8][10]
Ivan Ivanovich Obolensky (b. 1952), who married Mary Jo Smith without issue.
David Ivanovich Obolensky (b. 1953), who married Mary Catherine Hicks (b. 1952) on March 21, 1981;[11] they are the parents of two daughters.
After their divorce, Claire married designer and art advisor Garrick C. Stephenson (1927–2007).[12][13] On October 22, 1959, Obolensky married for the second time to Mary Elizabeth Morris (1934–2006).[14][15] Together, they were the parents of one son:
Sergei Ivanovich Obolensky (b. 1960), who married Ceceila Chapman Justice (b. 1956) in 1986;[16] they are the parents of two sons.
Death
Ivan Obolensky died on January 29, 2019. His funeral was held at the Church of the Incarnation in New York City.[17]
^ abcEdwin McDowell (October 9, 1989). "The Media Business: Financial Analyst of Publishing Companies Who's Done a Thing or Two". New York Times. Even if there were such a thing as a typical Wall Street investment banker, Ivan Obolensky, the senior vice president of research for Josephthal & Company, would not be it. That is, not unless the typical investment banker was also the London-born son of a Russian prince and a grandson of John Jacob Astor, who is said to have been the wealthiest man in America when he went down with the Titanic. Mr. Obolensky, 64 years old, is also a Yale graduate, novelist, former United States Navy pilot and one-time book publisher whose first list produced James Agee's Pulitzer Prize novel, A Death in the Family. .....
^"Claire Obolensky Excommunicated After Wedding in Russian Church". New York Times. October 14, 1949. Retrieved October 26, 2010. The New York Roman Catholic Archdiocese announced yesterday the excommunication from the church of the former Miss Claire Elizabeth McGinnis, who was married here on Monday to Ivan Obolensky.
^"Mary Catherine Hicks Engaged". New York Times. February 1, 1981. Retrieved May 5, 2010. Mary Catherine Hicks and David Ivanovich Obolensky plan to be married March 21. Announcement of their engagement has been made by Mr. and Mrs. George Thomas Hicks of Nashville, parents of the future bride. Her fiance is the son of Mrs. Garrick C. Stephenson and Ivan Obolensky, both of New York, and a descendant of the original John Jacob Astor..... His father is a vice-president of Moseley, Hallgarten, Estabrook & Weeden Inc., stockbrokers. The future bridegroom is a grandson of Clara Leonhardt of San Francisco, the late Felix S. McGinnis, who was a vice president of the Southern Pacific Railroad; the late Ava Astor, and the late Serge Obolensky of New York, who ran his own public relations concern.
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