CRYPTONECROLOGY: Peggy Mellon Hitchcock, R.I.P.

From Benjamin M. Adams' 5-6-24 HIGH TIMES article entitled "Psychedelic Pioneer Peggy Mellon Hitchcock Dies at 90":

Margaret “Peggy” Mellon Hitchcock, an ultra-wealthy heiress who grew up in the Andrew Mellon estate and its fortunes, funded LSD-fueled adventures for Dr. Timothy Leary and Dr. Richard “Ram Dass” Alpert, passed away on April 9 and an elaborate obituary was written by Penelope Green for the New York Times on May 3.

“Pretty Peggy Hitchcock was an international jet-setter, renowned as the colorful patroness of the livelier arts and confidante of jazz musicians, racecar drivers, writers, movie stars. Stylish, and with a wry sense of humor, Peggy was considered the most innovative and artistic of the Andrew Mellon family,” Leary wrote in his 1983 autobiography, Flashbacks. The debut 1974 issue of High Times and April 1978 issue contained excerpts from Leary’s writings.

Both psychedelic gurus were kicked out of Harvard: Leary was kicked out of Harvard for allegedly missing teaching responsibilities (but more likely for advocating for LSD), and Alpert was kicked out of Harvard for giving psilocybin to an undergraduate student. In Leary and Alpert’s experiments, including the Harvard Psilocybin Project, graduate students from Harvard and other schools in Boston were given psilocybin and asked to write a report about their trips. In another experiment, they offered psilocybin to prison inmates in the hope it would diminish recidivism. Both LSD and psilocybin were legal at the time, however.

They both benefited from Hitchcock’s money and ability to host psychedelic activities, where they continued for about five years. Hitchcock was remembered for being nurturing, but also being a force of nature in the fields she chose to entertain [...].

Hitchcock married Walter Bowart, a counterculture journalist, who was a founder of The East Village Other counterculture newspaper. In 1966, Bowart testified before the Senate Committee on Juvenile Delinquency and urged the committee members to try LSD for themselves. High Times reprinted several East Village Other articles, such as a reprint of Leary’s 1968 article, “Deal for Real.”

Hitchcock bankrolled a publishing house for her husband called Omen Press, which published books on metaphysics and spirituality. They divorced in 1980.

Without Hitchcock’s involvement, it’s unlikely Leary and Ram Dass would’ve become the household names they are today.

To read Adams' entire article, click HERE. 

A historical footnote: It's interesting to note that my late friend and colleague, Walter Bowart, once told me that he originally wrote his groundbreaking 1978 nonfiction book, Operation Mind Control, with the intention of publishing it through the above mentioned Omen Press before deciding to allow a mainstream New York publisher (Dell Books) to release it instead. Walter thanks Peggy Mellon Hitchcock for her "patience and support" in the Author's Note to the first edition of the book. 

By the way, if you'd like to hear Walter discussing the updated and revised edition of Operation Mind Control, check out Ned Potter's 1994 interview with him directly below:

Walter Bowart with Ned Potter - Operation Mind Control