LeBrun Rhinelander McKnight
LeBrun Rhinelander McKnight of Southampton and West Palm Beach, Florida, died at her home in Southampton on October 13. She was 95.
Born in New York City on April 28, 1917, she was the daughter of Hortense LeBrun Cruger Parsons and Philip Rhinelander II. She attended Miss Hewitt’s School in New York City and the Rosemary Hall School, then in Greenwich, Connecticut.
Ms. McKnight, known as “Brunie,” took great pride in her ancestors’ ties to early Manhattan. Her mother was related to an early mayor of New York City, John Cruger (1678-1744), and to a prominent 19th century suffragette, Lucretia Mott (1793-1880). Her father’s family, Philip and John Rhinelander, arrived in New York in about 1686, establishing farms around what is now 89th Street and the East River to feed lower Manhattan, and then organizing a shipping company to import molasses from the Caribbean, converting the molasses to sugar at their sugar mill, established in 1763 on 23rd Street. They later founded the Rhinelander Real Estate Company, which eventually became one of the largest landholders in New York City. In 1848, the company began to build blocks of row “brownstone” residences on the upper East Side and West Side to meet the city’s expanding housing needs. In 1900, it completed the construction of the landmark Rhinelander Mansion at 72nd Street and Madison Avenue.
During her life, Ms. McKnight was especially proud of her work as a Red Cross nurse’s aide at Roosevelt Hospital during and after World War II and her lifelong support for many wildlife and animal—especially cats, which she simply adored—protection organizations.
She was widely loved and admired for her always positive but stoic attitude toward her family and life and for her sense of humor, survivors said.
Ms. McKnight was predeceased by her husband, William G. McKnight Jr., in 1983; and by a brother, T.J. Oakley Rhinelander, in 1989.
She is survived by two sons, William G. McKnight III and his wife Katherine Ewart of New York City, and Philip R. McKnight and his wife Kathleen Lord of Massachusetts; and three grandchildren, Serena McKnight Bowman, William Rhinelander McKnight and Sarah McKnight Burdick. She is also survived by nine great-grandchildren; two nieces, Jeannine R. Schoeffer and Serena Rhinelander; and her loyal caregivers in Southampton, Isadora Cooks and Norma Manangon.
A memorial service is planned for next spring in Southampton. Memorial donations may be made to the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons Inc., P.O. Box 901, Wainscott, New York 11975. Condolences may be directed to the family through the Brockett Funeral Home in Southampton at www.brockettfuneralhome.com.
on Oct 22, 2012