Mr. JENNER. Now, you mention divorce. You and Wynne Sharples were
divorced?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes.
Mr. JENNER. And when did that take place?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. That, I think, was in 1957, I guess, or 1956. We
were married for 5 years.
Mr. JENNER. Well, it must have been 1957, then.
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. 1957, yes; it turned out to be that both of our
children had cystic fibrosis--it is a terrible illness of genetic
nature. The children who have it have no hope to recover, as yet.
Now, my ex-wife and I started a foundation, National Foundation for
Cystic Fibrosis in Dallas, of which Jacqueline Kennedy was the honorary
chairman.
Now, my ex-wife says that I didn't have much to do with this
foundation, this Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, but actually I did,
because I collected most of the money from my Dallas friends. It
started with very little--we started with $10,000 or $20,000, and now
it is a $2 million foundation, with headquarters in New York. Last
year I was chairman of this foundation in Dallas for the first public
subscription to our Cystic Fibrosis Fund for the Dallas children, and
we got $25,000.
Now my son, Sergei, died from cystic fibrosis in 1960.
By the way, the reason for our divorce, in addition to whatever
disagreements we had, which was not very important, was the fact that
we both obviously have a tendency for cystic fibrosis, a genetic
affinity for cystic fibrosis, and the children born from such a
marriage have a very poor chance to survive. She wanted more children.
She was scared to have more children with cystic fibrosis. The little
girl is still alive. She lives in Philadelphia.
Mr. JENNER. She is with her mother?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. With her mother, yes.
Mr. JENNER. Is her mother pursuing her profession in Philadelphia?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Her mother is not actually practicing but she is
in charge of the Cystic Fibrosis Research Institute in Philadelphia,
she is a trustee of Temple University.