Ethel Du Pont

Ethel du Pont Roosevelt-Warren was born on January 30, 1916, in Wilmington, Delaware. She was the daughter of Eugene du Pont Jr. and Ethel Pyle. Her paternal grandfather was Eugene du Pont (1840–1902), the first head of the modern DuPont corporation. She had siblings named Aimée du Pont, Nicholas R. du Pont, and Eugene du Pont III. Her upbringing took place at Owl's Nest, the family estate located in Greenville, Delaware. She attended Misses Hebb's School in Wilmington and graduated from the Ethel Walker School in Simsbury, Connecticut.

On June 30, 1937, Ethel du Pont married Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr. (1914–1988), the third son of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. This marriage linked her to the Roosevelt family, including her grand-uncle, President Theodore Roosevelt. The couple had two sons: Franklin Delano Roosevelt III, born in 1938, and Christopher du Pont Roosevelt, born in 1941. Ethel and Franklin Jr. separated and formally divorced in 1949.

In December 1950, Ethel du Pont Roosevelt married Benjamin S. Warren Jr., a prominent lawyer based in Detroit. The marriage produced one son, Benjamin S. Warren III, born in 1954.

Ethel du Pont Roosevelt died by suicide on May 25, 1965, at the age of 49. Prior to her death, she had been under psychiatric care multiple times and had spent time at the Silver Hill Foundation, a psychiatric hospital in New Canaan, Connecticut. Her death occurred a few months before her son Christopher’s wedding in June 1965, during a period when she and her husband were separated. At that time, her son Benjamin was 10 years old and attending a boarding school.

Following her death, her family established the Ethel Dupont-Warren Fellowship Award at Harvard Medical School, dedicated to supporting research in psychiatry. As of 2023, the fellowship continues to fund the salaries of three to four young research psychiatrists annually.