Lillian Stokes Bostwick Phipps was an American socialite and owner of Thoroughbred steeplechase racehorses.
Background
Born in New York, the daughter of Mary Stokes and Albert Carlton Bostwick (1876-1911), her wealthy grandfather, Jabez A. Bostwick, was one of John D. Rockefeller"s founding partners in the Standard Oil Company. Her father was a horseman and polo player whose influence on her and brothers George Herbert Bostwick, Dunbar and Albert Junior. led to them becoming involved with the sport of horse racing.
Career
Lillian Bostwick was raised in a Fifth Avenue mansion in New York City and as a young woman was listed in the 1930 New York Social Blue Book. First married in 1928 at Church of the Transfiguration to Robert V. McKim of Aiken, South Carolina, the couple had three daughters, including the fashion designer Lilly Pulitzer. She owned Neji and Oedipus, two very prominent horses that were voted American Steepchase Champions five times in all, and who were both inducted into the United States. Racing Hall of Fame.
A community benefactor, Lillian Bostwick Phipps served on the Board of Directors of the Visiting Nurse Service of New York, the Metropolitan Opera Association, and the Saratoga Performing Arts Center of which she was also its Chairperson.
Her interior design team of Robert Denning & Vincent Fourcade from the inception of their firm in 1960 had been involved with acquisitions and style in all of their fifteen homes and she has been credited with playing a significant role in launching the team