Lynn Wyatt

Lynn Wyatt at a Vanity Fair party for the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival

Lynn Wyatt (née Sakowitz; born July 16, 1935) is the daughter of Bernard and Ann Baum Sakowitz and the sister of Robert T. Sakowitz.

A Houston socialite, philanthropist and third-generation Texan, her grandfather started the Sakowitz Department Store chain. Her husband, Oscar Wyatt, is an energy executive, the founder of Houston's Coastal Corporation—now owned by El Paso Corporation —and current CEO of NuCoastal LLC. Lynn and Oscar Wyatt have four sons.[1]

During the height of the oil boom in the 1970s/early 1980s, the family mansion in Houston was known as the "Wyatt Hyatt" becoming a "home away from home" for people including Princess Margaret, Princess Grace of Monaco, Bill Blass, Joan Collins, Mick Jagger, His Majesty King Hussein and Queen Noor of Jordan.

Biography

Lynn Wyatt has appeared in American Vogue (magazine), Harper's Bazaar, Town & Country and W (the high-fashion/social magazine of Fairchild Publications) through the years. She is a friend and patron of couturiers Valentino, Karl Lagerfeld, Emanuel Ungaro, Bill Blass, Jean Paul Gaultier and others. She was inducted into the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame in 1977.

In 1982 the Government of France honored her with admission to the prestigious Order of Arts and Letters, rank of Chevalier, for her significant contribution to the enrichment of the French cultural inheritance. In 2007, the French government promoted her to the Order's rank of Officier. She received the Woodson Medal from the Houston Forum. Twice she was named Houston's Most Fascinating by the Texas Medical Center Library. In May 1980 Texas Governor William P. Clements commissioned her as Ambassador of Goodwill for the state. In 2000 she was recognized as "Socialite of the Century" by Texas Monthly magazine. She was later declared a Cadillac Texas Legend by KHOU/Channel 11, the CBS affiliate in Houston.

To benefit the Red Cross and the American Hospital of Paris, she chaired the annual Bal de la Rose in Monaco, turning it into an entire weekend of festivities. Prince Rainier asked her to be a Founding Trustee of the Princess Grace Foundation U.S.A. (on which Board she continues to serve) and to chair the inaugural Gala in Washington, D.C., President Ronald Reagan and his wife. She was appointed to the Board of the U.S. Naval Academy by President Reagan, serving for eight years. An advisor for the Academy when it first considered accepting women, her duties included inspecting a number of the Navy's ships. She helped raise funds for the Naval Academy.

Other charitable commitments include Houston Grand Opera (Recipient of the Masterson Award; Member of the Founders' Council for Artistic Excellence, Life Patron and Vice Chairman; she chaired the Opera's record-setting 50th anniversary Golden Jubilee Gala, which raised US$2.5 million and brought in internationally recognized stars including Roger Moore, Sarah, Duchess of York, Renée Fleming, Bryn Terfel, Philip Glass and Elton John. A Special Advisor to Professor Luc Montagnier, Nobel laureate in Medicine and Physiology (2008) and President of the World Foundation for Medical Research and Prevention, Wyatt contributes to such charities, among others, as the Elton John AIDS Foundation, The Brilliant Lecture Series' Youth Leadership Program (Chair Emeritus), Star of Hope Mission for the Homeless (Life Trustee and every year, Honorary Trustee of the Trees of Hope benefit gala).

In 2008, she was elected to the inaugural board of the Houston-based Medical Prevention and Research Institute. She has a personal interest in disease prevention, human health and wellness and complementary/integrative medicine. She is a Black Belt First Degree in TaeKwonDo.

References

  1. ↑ "Survival of the Richest", National Geographic; accessed September 23, 2014.

Sources

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 3/31/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.