Prince Sergei Platonovich Obolensky Neledinsky-Meletzky (November 3, 1890 – September 29, 1978), known as Serge Obolensky, was a Russian-born aristocrat then American citizen, U.S. Army colonel, socialite and publicist. He served as vice chairman of the board of directors of the Hilton Hotels Corporation.[1]
Early life
Obolensky's parents were Prince Platon Sergeyevich Obolensky-Neledinsky-Meletzky (1850–1913)[2] and Maria Konstantinovna Naryshkina (1861–1929).[3] He had a younger brother, Vladimir (1896–1968),[4] who died unmarried and childless.
After his second marriage, he settled in the U.S., working with his new brother-in-law, the real estate entrepreneur Vincent Astor.[6] He also started a business, Parfums Chevalier Garde, with fellow emigre, Aleksandre Tarsaidze (1901–1978). Tarsaidze was president until 1940 when they were cut off from their French suppliers during World War II.[7] When Obolensky was president of the Sherry-Netherland Hotel, Tarsaidze became his assistant. Tarsaidze later wrote a novel about the parents of Obolensky's first wife, Alexander II and Catherine Dolgorukov.[7]
In 1949, he started his own public relations firm in New York City, Serge Obolensky Associates, Inc.,[6] handling accounts like Piper-Heidsieckchampagne. "Serge", a friend once remarked, "could be successful selling umbrellas in the middle of the Sahara".
In 1958, Obolensky was made vice chairman of the board of Hilton Hotels Corporation.[6] In the same year, he released his autobiography, One Man In His Time. The Memoirs of Serge Obolensky.[8][9] He maintained a substantial art collection.
Princess Sylvia Sergeievna Obolensky (1931–1997),[14] was Ava's daughter with Raimund von Hofmannsthal.[15] Ava and von Hofmannsthal would marry quietly in January 1933[16] after she and Obolensky divorced in 1932, but at the time of Sylvia's birth Ava was in Austria and still married to Obolensky. Sylvia married Jean-Louis Ganshof van der Meersch (1924–1982) in New York City on November 1, 1950,[17] they divorced in 1957 without issue. She then married Prince Azamat Kadir Giray (1924–2001),[18] at East Hampton, New York on August 11, 1957. He was the son of Kadir Giray, Prince of Crimea (1892–1953)[19] and Vaguide Sheret-Luk, and had issue before divorcing in 1963. Through his father, Giray was a direct male line descendant of Genghis Khan and Börte through Jochi and the Khans of Crimea.
On June 3, 1971, he married for the third and final time to Marilyn Fraser-Wall (1929–2007) of Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, with whom he did not have children.[11][20]
Obolensky died in 1978,[21] and is buried in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Southfield, Michigan.[1]
^ ab"Died". Time. October 16, 1978. Archived from the original on October 14, 2010. Retrieved August 11, 2008. Serge Obolensky, 87, Russian prince who became a publicist and international socialite; in Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich. Scion of a wealthy White Russian family and husband of Czar Alexander II's daughter, the Oxford-educated Obolensky fled his native country after battling Bolsheviks as a guerrilla fighter. The tall, mustachioed aristocrat subsequently divorced Princess Catherine, married the daughter of American Financier John Jacob Astor, settled in the U.S. and worked with his brother-in-law, the real estate entrepreneur Vincent Astor. During World War II, Obolensky at 53 became the U.S. Army's oldest paratrooper and earned the rank of colonel. He started his own public relations firm in New York in 1949, handling accounts like Piper-Heidsieck champagne. "Serge," a friend once remarked, "could be successful selling umbrellas in the middle of the Sahara."
^ ab"Historical Import Goes to Auction at DuMouchelle Art Galleries". Reuters. January 11, 2008. Archived from the original on March 6, 2008. Retrieved August 11, 2008. Prince Serge Obolensky, former husband to Russian Czar Alexander II's daughter, Princess Catherine Yourievsky, and later to U.S. real-estate tycoon Colonel John Jacob Astor IV's daughter, Ava Astor. ...