Marjorie Merriweather Post spared no expense in bringing Mar-a-Lago — Sea to Lake — to life,

Russian connection: Post once hosted Josef Stalin while her third husband, Joseph Davies, was ambassador to the Soviet Union. Post entertained but did not like the food in Russia, so she imported vats of cream, for example, from America. She hosted those from the Imperial side as well. In 1929, Mar-a-Lago held a luncheon for Grand Duke Alexander Michaelovitch, father of Prince Nikita, presumptive heir to the Russian throne. While she was in Moscow, Post picked up a great deal of Imperial art, including Faberge eggs.

Her famous relations: Daughter Dina Merrill, an actress; son-inlaw and actor Cliff Robertson; actress Glenn Close (great niece by first husband Edward Bennett Close), Merriweather Lewis, a Pacific Northwest explorer; stockbroker E.F. Hutton; and Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton (niece).

Richer than her stockbroker

husband: Post inherited her father’s $20 million fortune, made from healthy cereal such as Post Toasties and Grape Nuts, when he killed himself in 1914; she parlayed that into a $200 million General Foods company. Hutton was chairman, and Post was president. She was one of the first women to sit on the board of a major corporation.

World War II soldier rehab: In 1944, Mar-a-Lago was converted into an occupational therapy center for convalescent World War II veterans who were housed at The Breakers. Thatch-roof huts were erected for workshops in leather tooling, sculpting, furniture repair, printing and carpentry. The compound’s staff and service buildings were converted into art studios, private counseling offices, radio repair shops, motor mechanic garages and rooms to show training films.

Square-dancing — Post loved her square-dance nights. Rose Kennedy was a regular. Post “danced every dance even though she was totally deaf,” Palm Beach society columnist Charles van Rensselaer said in 1973.