Benjamin C. Bradlee (1921-2014)

Benjamin C. Bradlee was born Benjamin Crowninshield Bradlee in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts on December 26, 1921 to Frederick Josiah Bradlee, Jr. and Chevaliere Josephine de Gersdorff. His father was born in Boston on December 20, 1892 and died on April 28, 1970 in Beverly, Essex, Massachusetts. Bradlee's mother Josephine was born in Manhattan, New York on June 18, 1896 and died on October 15, 1975 also in Beverly, Massachusetts; they married in Beverly on July 3, 1917 and had three children: Frederick Josiah Bradlee III, Benjamin Crowninshield Bradlee and Constance "Conny" Bradlee. The French Government knighted Bradlee for being the Press Atache while living in Paris and by law he may use Chevalier at the begining of his name a "de" just before his last name; so his full name would be the following: Chevalier Benjamin Crowninshield de Bradlee. His mother Josephine was knighted for starting an orphanage during World War II to protect children from the Nazi Political Party. Bradlee's third wife, Sally Sterling Quinn, aka Sally Quinn's father was also made a Chevalier and then a Chevalier Officer for fighting in France during World War II. Quinn's father was Chevalier Officer Lt. Gen. William Wilson "Buffalo Bill" Quinn. Chevalier is the equivalant of being "Sir" in Great Britain.