She was a recipient of the American Woman Award from the Women's Research & Education Institute in 2004. His first wife died in 1985. Bill Clinton, having befriended him and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, decades earlier. Conduit to the high and mighty (he took Mr. Clinton in 1991 to the Bilderberg conference in Germany, an exclusive annual retreat for politicians and businessmen). She also has nine grandchildren. He also knew that saying no to his best friend could complicate a relationship he treasured: There was no way to know, Jordan remembered thinking, where my decision might take our friendship., He took a few moments before he answered Clinton. He died peacefully at his home surrounded by his wife and family, Jordan's niece Ann Walker told CNN. }); Here I am, he remembered thinking, the son of a postman who grew up in the first public housing project in the country for African Americans, and Ive just spent the last six hours sharing everything with the most powerful man on the planet. Tears started to stream down his face. Vernon Jordan, a civil rights leader and close adviser to former President Bill Clinton, died Monday evening. Vanity Fair may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. No one around Clinton could match Jordans Rolodex, his judgment of human character, or his ability to persuade. Biography. "In 2001, Jordan received the NAACP's Spingarn Medal for a lifetime of social justice activism. And a close Clinton aide, Betsey Wright, had warned her boss about his history of what she termed Bimbo eruptions.) The governor, nonetheless, was raring to ascend the national political ladder and had emerged as one of the leading voices of moderation in a party that seemed to be tacking leftward. Vernon Jordan dead: Civil rights activist advised President Clinton He was flailing, in utter shock, remembered Democratic mandarin (and current nominee for the Virginia governorship) Terry McAuliffe. }); Then came the golf course. Vernon Jordan, activist who advised former President Clinton, has died eventAction: 'view' let gads_event; She is a former director of Revlon, Inc., Johnson & Johnson, Automatic Data Processing,[7] Coleman Company, Salant Corp., Travelers Group Inc.[8] and The Phillips Collection. After his graduation from Northwestern University and an MBA degree from Columbia University, he was reportedly a marketing consultant in global securities and foreign exchange at Chemical Bank in New York. He wanted company. "She's smart, independent, caring, loyal," he . Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vernon_Jordan&oldid=1143136668, 5 (1 with Yarbrough, 4 by marriage with Ann Cook), A collection of his public speeches, with commentary, called. Greeting each other stiffly in suits and ties, they started talking at nine in the evening. Vernon Jordan, Civil Rights Activist And Power Broker, Dies At 85 Clinton, though impeached by the House of Representatives, would leave the White House with a 66 percent job approval rating, eight points higher than when he arrived.