Who

Petrie is the widow of Milton Petrie, the retailer and philanthropist who died in 1994 at the age of 92.

Backstory

A South Carolina native and former model, Carroll (née Carroll Pistell) was a divorcée and mother of two when she wed her second husband, Milton Petrie, in 1978. (Carroll was wife No. 4 for Milton, who was 25 years her senior.) Petrie, who built a fortune with discount department stores and a major investment in Toys 'R Us, passed away 16 years later, leaving his widow with $5 million in cash, a $150 million trust fund, and several prime piece of real estate, including a spread in Southampton and 12-room, Fifth Avenue co-op apartment. Carroll has since filled her days doling out her late husband's cash, inspired by his legacy of charitable giving.

Pet causes

Milton Petrie was a prolific philanthropist, regularly dispensing cash to both institutions and various accident victims he read about in the paper like injured cops and burned firefighters. His generosity explains why you'll see the Petrie name all over the city at places like Mount Sinai (the Milton and Carroll Petrie Department of Urology), the Metropolitan Museum (the Carroll and Milton Petrie European Sculpture Court), Beth Israel (the Milton and Carroll Petrie Division), and Columbia University (the Carroll and Milton Petrie New York City Teacher Fellowship Program). Carroll has continued the Petrie legacy by writing sizeable checks, but Petrie doesn't earmark all of her donations for hospitals and museums. She's also a prolific donor to Republican candidates and causes and backed Rudy Giuliani's ill-fated presidential bid in 2008.

Personal

Before her marriage to Milton, Petrie was married to Alfonso de Portago, a Spanish playboy and racecar driver who died in 1957. The couple had two children, Andrea and Anthony. Now in her 80s, Petrie continues to live at 834 Fifth Avenue, the tony building also home to Rupert Murdoch, Woody Johnson, and fellow doyenne Susan Gutfreund. Formerly a resident of the fifth floor, Petrie now resides in a Pauline Pitt-designed spread on the tenth floor.

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