Prince Sergei Platonovich Obolensky Neledinsky-Meletzky (November 3, 1890 – September 29, 1978), known as Serge Obolensky, was a Russian-born aristocrat then American citizen, U.S. Army colonel, socialite and publicist. He served as vice chairman of the board of directors of the Hilton Hotels Corporation.[1]
Early life
Obolensky's parents were Prince Platon Sergeyevich Obolensky-Neledinsky-Meletzky (1850–1913)[2] and Maria Konstantinovna Naryshkina (1861–1929).[3] He had a younger brother, Vladimir (1896–1968),[4] who died unmarried and childless.
After his second marriage, he settled in the U.S., working with his new brother-in-law, the real estate entrepreneur Vincent Astor.[6] He also started a business, Parfums Chevalier Garde, with fellow emigre, Aleksandre Tarsaidze (1901–1978). Tarsaidze was president until 1940 when they were cut off from their French suppliers during World War II.[7] When Obolensky was president of the Sherry-Netherland Hotel, Tarsaidze became his assistant. Tarsaidze later wrote a novel about the parents of Obolensky's first wife, Alexander II and Catherine Dolgorukov.[7]
In 1949, he started his own public relations firm in New York City, Serge Obolensky Associates, Inc.,[6] handling accounts like Piper-Heidsieckchampagne. "Serge", a friend once remarked, "could be successful selling umbrellas in the middle of the Sahara".
In 1958, Obolensky was made vice chairman of the board of Hilton Hotels Corporation.[6] In the same year, he released his autobiography, One Man In His Time. The Memoirs of Serge Obolensky.[8][9] He maintained a substantial art collection.
Personal life
Photograph of Prince Obolensky and, his second wife, Ava Alice Astor, August 1924 The Indianapolis Times
Princess Sylvia Sergeievna Obolensky (1931–1997),[14] was Ava's daughter with Raimund von Hofmannsthal.[15] Ava and von Hofmannsthal would marry quietly in January 1933[16] after she and Obolensky divorced in 1932, but at the time of Sylvia's birth Ava was in Austria and still married to Obolensky. Sylvia married Jean-Louis Ganshof van der Meersch (1924–1982) in New York City on November 1, 1950,[17] they divorced in 1957 without issue. She then married Prince Azamat Kadir Giray (1924–2001),[18] at East Hampton, New York on August 11, 1957. He was the son of Kadir Giray, Prince of Crimea (1892–1953)[19] and Vaguide Sheret-Luk, and had issue before divorcing in 1963. Through his father, Giray was a direct male line descendant of Genghis Khan and Börte through Jochi and the Khans of Crimea.
On June 3, 1971, he married for the third and final time to Marilyn Fraser-Wall (1929–2007) of Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, with whom he did not have children.[11][20]
Obolensky died in 1978,[21] and is buried in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Southfield, Michigan.[1]
