| Nancy Cooke de Herrera | |
|---|---|
| Born | Nancy Cooke |
| Residence | California |
| Occupation | socialite author |
| Spouse | Luis de Herrera |
| Children | one daughter, three sons |
Nancy Cooke de Herrera was an American socialite, fashion expert and author of the book All You Need Is Love: An Eyewitness Account of When Spirituality Spread from the East to the West.[1][2]
De Herrera grew up in Piedmont California and studied bacteriology at Stanford University in the 1940s.[3]
De Herrera traveled to Molokai in Hawaii and married Richard Cooke, the son of a well-known missionary family in 1941. [4] As the wife of a prominent family member she performed hostess duties for Admiral Nimitz, Admiral Halsey and Admiral Towers during World War II. During her nine year marriage she gave birth to three sons.[5]
While in Paris in 1951 de Herrera met an American race car driver named Luis de Herrera whom she later married. The couple moved to Argentina and had a daughter. A few years later, in 1955, her husband Luis died of leukemia and atomic radiation exposure when their daughter was 9 months old.[1][3][6]
For twelve years de Herrera was a leading figure in the fashion industry and was referred to as the "U.S. Ambassadress of Fashion" while traveling to 15 countries to present American couture.[1][3][5][6]
De Herrera worked as a publicist for Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in the 1960s and traveled with him on a trip to South America. She was the liaison for the Maharishi and The Beatles during their widely publicized visit to Rishikesh, India.[3]
During her dozens of trips to India and Tibet she is reported to have had meetings with the Dalai Lama, the sixteenth Gyalwa Karmapa, Sir Edmund Hillary, the Shah of Iran, King Hussein of Jordan and Satya Sai Baba.[3]
In 2003, de Herrera published her book All You Need Is Love: An Eyewitness Account of When Spirituality Spread from the East to the West.[1] A review in Awareness Magazine said the reader is kept "spellbound from cover to cover" and called it a "shoe-in for a Pulitzer Prize nomination".[7]
Over the years de Herrera is reported to have given meditation lessons to many celebrities including Madonna, Greta Garbo, Rosie O'Donnell, Lenny Kravitz and Sheryl Crow.[3][6] De Herrara has been called one of the pioneers of the spiritual movement in the West.[8]