Newspaper heiress, one of country’s richest women, 100
ATLANTA — Anne Cox Chambers, a newspaper heiress, diplomat and philanthropist who was one of the country’s richest women, died Friday at the age of 100.
Ms. Chambers’ nephew James Cox Kennedy announced her death to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, her company’s flagship newspaper.
“Aunt Anne was a wonderful, kind and elegant lady who cared deeply about her family, her company and her country,” said Kennedy, who served as Cox Enterprises chief executive officer from 1988 to 2008 and continues as chairman. “She took the responsibility of good fortune very seriously and gave back to the best of her ability to the many causes she cared about.”
Ms. Chambers, a director of Cox Enterprises Inc., promoted Jimmy Carter’s political career and served as U.S. ambassador to Belgium during his presidency.
Forbes estimated her net worth several years ago at nearly $17 billion. She was well known for her charitable giving and served on the boards of the Atlanta Arts Alliance and the High Museum of Art, among other institutions.
She was the daughter of James Middleton Cox, the 1920 Democratic presidential candidate and founder of Cox Enterprises Inc. The privately held company has included The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and other newspapers, radio and TV stations, cable TV systems and other businesses.
Ms. Chambers and her mother and siblings inherited the company when the senior Cox died in 1957.
She owned a white-columned manor across from the governor’s mansion in Atlanta, where Jimmy Carter brought his daughter, Amy, over to swim in the pool. She also had an estate in France and a posh apartment in New York.
But while most of her wealthy friends were Republicans, she remained a staunch Democrat. At 89, she even knocked on doors for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, the newspaper reported.
“I just don’t discuss politics with my friends. No use having fights,” she once told Vanity Fair magazine.
Ms. Chambers acknowledged her good fortune and said she felt an obligation to give back.
“Both of my parents were extremely caring people, so that I think growing up, well, there was the fact of feeling responsible,” she said.”
Ms. Chambers’ support of Carter, who captured the Georgia governor’s office with her help in 1970 and the presidency in 1976, won her an appointment as U.S. ambassador to Belgium in 1977.
James M. Cox Sr. had begun the family business in 1898 when he purchased the Dayton Daily News in Dayton, Ohio. He also was a three-time Ohio governor and a congressman. In 1920, he became the Democratic nominee for president — Franklin Delano Roosevelt was his running mate — but he lost to Republican Warren G. Harding.
Ms. Chambers was born Dec. 1, 1919, in Dayton, Ohio, and attended Miss Porter’s School in Farmington, Connecticut, and Finch College in New York. She was married twice, to Louis G. Johnson for 15 years and to Robert W. Chambers for 20 years. Both ended in divorce. She had two daughters with Johnson and a son with Chambers.
“We had her 100th birthday in her residence and celebrated Christmas together and we were holding her hands when she died,” Taylor said.