Gloria Vanderbilt Dies at 95; Built a Fashion Empire

Gloria Vanderbilt Dies at 95; Built a Fashion Empire
An illustrious family name became synonymous with designer jeans, as Ms. Vanderbilt became a celebrity in her own right.

Gloria Vanderbilt — the glamorous Manhattan socialite from one of the nation’s wealthiest families who was as well-known for her eponymous brand of jeans as her genes — died Monday after a battle with stomach cancer, CNN reported.

She was 95.

Vanderbilt is the mother of CNN anchor Anderson Cooper.

“Earlier this month, we had to take her to the hospital,” Cooper said. “That’s where we learned she had very advanced cancer in her stomach and that it had spread.”

The TV news anchor called his mother “the coolest and most modern” person he knew.

“Gloria Vanderbilt was an extraordinary woman who loved life and lived it on her own terms. She was a painter, a writer and designer but also a remarkable mother, wife and friend,” he said.

“She was 95 years old, but ask anyone close to her and they’d tell you, she was the youngest person they knew, the coolest and most modern. She died this morning the way she wanted to — at home, surrounded by family and friends.”

The socialite lived a life that raised many eyebrows in the high society circles from which she came, starting with a tabloid-made, acrimonious custody battle over her between her mother and her aunt when she was 10.