Marriage to Aristotle Onassis and later years
Jacqueline moved to an apartment in New York City, which remained her principal residence for the rest of her life. During this time, she became a frequent target of paparazzi and the tabloids, and this unwanted attention continued until her death. In October 1968 she wed the Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, whom she had known for a number of years. According to reports, however, the marriage soon became troubled, and she continued to spend considerable time in New York, where her children attended school. Although the bulk of his estate went to his daughter after his death in 1975, Jacqueline inherited a sum variously estimated at $20 million to $26 million.
Returning to an old interest, Jacqueline worked as a consulting editor at Viking Press and later as an associate and senior editor at Doubleday. She also maintained her interest in the arts and in landmark preservation. Notably, in the 1970s she played an important role in saving Grand Central Terminal in New York City. Although her name was linked romantically with different men, her constant companion during the last 12 years of her life was Maurice Tempelsman, a Belgian-born diamond dealer.
Soon after she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 1994, she died in her New York City apartment. After a funeral at St. Ignatius Roman Catholic Church on Park Avenue, she was buried in Arlington National Cemetery beside John F. Kennedy and the two children who had predeceased them. After her one surviving son, John F. Kennedy, Jr., was killed in a plane accident in July 1999, many books and articles assessed the recurring role of tragedy in the Kennedy story. But it had been a story of luck and glamour as well, and the name she applied to her husband’s short administration, “Camelot,” seemed to capture much of her essence as well.
Betty Boyd Caroli