Nationality American Occupation Philanthropist | Children 3 Name Laura Chasin | |
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Full Name Laura Spelman Rockefeller Parents Mary French Rockefeller, Laurance Rockefeller Grandparents John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Mary Billings French Great-grandparents John D. Rockefeller, Laura Spelman Rockefeller, Frederick H. Billings, Julia Parmly Cousins Michael Rockefeller, Richard Rockefeller, David Rockefeller Jr, Mark Rockefeller, Peggy Dulany Similar People Laurance Rockefeller, Laurance Spelman Rockefell, Rodman Rockefeller, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, Eileen Rockefeller Growald | ||
Laura Spelman Rockefeller (October 11, 1936 – November 17, 2015) was an American philanthropist. She was the eldest child of Laurance Spelman Rockefeller (1910–2004) and Mary French (1910–1997), and a fourth generation member of the Rockefeller family. She has two younger sisters, Marion, Lucy Aldrich Rockefeller, and a younger brother, Laurance Spelman Rockefeller Jr.. Her patrilineal great-grandfather was Standard Oil's co-founder John D. Rockefeller and her matrilineal great-grandfather was Frederick H. Billings, a president of Northern Pacific Railway. Both of her grandmothers, Mary Billings French and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, were important to the early development of YWCA USA. Chasin is known as the founder, former executive director, and former board member of the Public Conversations Project in Watertown, Massachusetts.
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Early life and education
Chasin was raised in New York City. She graduated from the Brearley School in Manhattan and Miss Porter's School in Farmington, Connecticut. She received a B.A. magna cum laude in Art History from Bryn Mawr College, an M.A. in Government from Harvard University, and an M.S.W. from Simmons College (Massachusetts) School of Social Work. She was trained in couple and family therapy and psychodrama.
Personal life
In 1956, she married James H. Case, with whom she had three children and whom she later divorced. In 1971, she married psychiatrist Richard Chasin, who had three children from prior marriages. A leader in family therapy, he was president of the American Family Therapy Academy and an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He served for 12 years as president of the Rockefeller Family Fund and was a trustee of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
Board memberships
Chasin served on the boards of the Rockefeller Family Fund, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and Spelman College. She also served on the boards of the Children's Defense Fund, the Conflict Management Group, and the Institute for Faith and Politics, and on the steering committee of the Common Ground Network for Life and Choice. She was described as a radical centrist thinker and activist.
Chasin is known as the founder, former executive director, and current board member of the Public Conversations Project in Watertown, Massachusetts. This non-profit organization fosters constructive conversations about divisive public issues that involve clashing values, world views, and identities. Public Conversations' methods are designed to dissolve stereotypes, create trust, generate fresh ideas, and promote collaboration among those who have been chronically embattled. She also works closely with No Labels and the National Institute for Civil Discourse, founded after the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.