Vice President Nelson Rockefeller’s former deputy press secretary acknowledged her notoriety with the politician’s death in a self-written obituary published earlier this month after a lifetime of silence on the topic.
Journalist Megan Marshack, once a young aide — and long-speculated mistress — to Rockefeller, died at age 70 at a live-in medical facility in California on Oct. 2, according to her autobiographical obituary.
Her death notice, which her brother confirmed she had written herself to the New York Times, focused largely on her long career in journalism but also included her time working for the former Republican VP and four-term New York governor.
“Megan Ruth Marshack, associated around the world with the death of former Vice-President Nelson Rockefeller, died October 2, 2024 of liver and kidney failure,” the very first line reads.
Marshack, then 25, was with Rockefeller when he died of a heart attack in 1979. Details about his sudden death, at age 70, quickly changed over the course of the following days as reporters searched for info. As more came out, the place of death and who was there was corrected more than once by the former governor’s spokesperson.
The young aide and aspiring journalist found herself at the center of speculation and media attention — as one of the last people to see Rockefeller alive late on a Friday night. Rumors quickly swirled about a possible affair between the pair, and reporters trailed Marshack relentlessly, hoping she would speak.
But she never did — not even on her deathbed, according to friends and family who spoke to the Times.
“My understanding is that, after he passed away, she signed a nondisclosure agreement with the family at their request, and that’s why she never spoke of it,” her brother told the publication. “I think she had a desire to tell the story all along but held on to her obligation.”
He said he never pried.
Marshack doesn’t address the rumored relationship in her obituary but ends with a lyric from the 1975 musical “A Chorus Line” — “(But I) won’t forget, can’t regret what I did for love,” prompting speculation around its possible allusions.
A friend and former CBS colleague — whose offer to listen to Marshack’s account of her relationship with Rockefeller to retell it after her death was rejected by the journalist — told the Times her interpretation of the quote.
“I feel that what Megan ‘did for love’ was keep it private, in her heart, rather than reveal intimate details that could become fodder for cruel jokes,” Laurie Nadel emailed the paper.
Marshack first met Rockefeller while on assignment for a six-month Associated Press trial at just 22 years old. She was at the vice president’s press conference in Los Angeles and was told to get a comment about the federal government’s refusal to bail out New York City.
Rockefeller was answering questions in Spanish but the scrappy young reporter budded in.
“Señor Vice Presidente,” she spoke up.
“Un momento, por favor,” he replied, according to her obituary.
“No, ahora, por favor,” Marshack reportedly demanded.
“Si?” Rockefeller asked.
“Now about New York City,” Marshack continued in English — drawing a collective laugh from the room.
“Marshack got her quote and apologized for interrupting as she and Rockefeller walked out of the news conference together,” she wrote in her obituary.
After failing to secure a full-time gig with the AP, Marshack applied — and was accepted — to be on Rockefeller’s press team. When he was dropped as President Ford’s running mate, Rockefeller hired his team, including Marshack, back in New York.
She continued as his deputy press secretary and also worked as the director of his art collection along with various other projects. She called him “the most caring man and considerate boss I’ve met” in an article published in the San Fernando Valley News just days before he died.
Following his death, she returned to journalism and worked for CBS News and a local Placerville, California newspaper, where she met her husband, Edmond Jacoby Jr. They married in 2003. He died last year.
Marshack is survived by her brother, Jon Marshack.
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