Jane Brown Grimes, who as Definitely one of many unusual women authoritiess in tennis in her time modernized the Worldwide Tennis Hall of Fame, ran the rule-making physique Of women’s tennis and was president of America Tennis Affiliation, died on Nov. 2 at her house in Manhattan. She was 80.
The set off was most cancers, her daughter, Serena Larson, said.
“Jane did every thing behind the scenes,” Chris Evert, who gained 18 Grand Slam singles titles, said in an interview. “She didn’t crave considperiodtion and quietly went about her work. Not A lot Of women tennis gamers know what she did, as a Outcome of she was beneath the radar.”
In 1989, Mrs. Brown Grimes, as managing director of The women’s Worldwide Expert Tennis Council, which ruled women’s tennis, headed talks that led to a change in title sponsorship of the women’s tour — from Virginia Slims, a cigarette mannequin marketed to women, to Kraft Widespread Meals. Each have been owned by Philip Morris (now the Altria Group).
Anti-tobacco activists, As properly as to some gamers, had for yrs demanded That women’s tennis transfer on from its tobacco sponsorship, the monetary backbDefinitely one of many tour Since the early Nineteen Seventies, To at least One which promoted a extra healthful way of life.
“Jane was A very strategic, clever chief, And she or he was clear thOn the council Needed To maneuver amethod from tobacco,” said Anne Worcester, who was director of worldwide opperiodtions for the Virginia Slims collection and succeeded Mrs. Brown Grimes Since the council chief in 1991.
Pam Shriver, who gained 132 titles in her profession, acinformationd in an interview that “There have been no apologies for Virginia Slims being a sponsor.” However, she added, “By The objective Jane was in a key place to make a change, she made it happen.”
Jane Trowbridge Gillespie was born on Jan. 20, 1941, in Freeport, N.Y., on Prolonged Island. Her father, Samuel Hazard Gillespie, was a litigator who served as America lawyer for the Southern District Of latest York from 1959 to 1961. Her mcompletely different, Ruth (Reed) Gillespie, was The prime librarian On the Collegiate School in Manhattan.
In her youth, Jane performed on her grandparents’ clay tennis courtroom on Prolonged Island And regularly attaccomplished America Nationwide Championships at Forest Hills, Queens — the precursor to America Open — Collectively with her household. She reveled in watching stars like Althea Gibson, Margaret Court, Tony Trabert and Maureen Connolly.
“They have been …….
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/13/sports/tennis/jane-brown-grimes-dead.html