Who

The wife of billionaire oil tycoon Sid Richardson Bass, Mercedes Bass is one of the city's most prominent socialites and philanthropists.

Backstory

Born in Iran, educated in England and Switzerland, and distantly related to the Persian royal family, Mercedes Tavacoli—as she was known in her younger years—was once married to Ambassador Francis L. Kellogg, who served in the Nixon and Ford administrations. In 1986, in a much talked about scandal, Mercedes ditched her bland diplomat husband for Sid Bass, the heir to an Texas oil fortune. The couple tied the knot in a lavish society wedding at the Plaza two years later. Not surprisingly, life has been good to Mercedes ever since: With her husband worth more than $3 billion, she's spent the last two decades attending glitzy parties and doling out cash to various art and music-related non-profits.

Pet causes

Sid and Mercedes divide their time between Manhattan and Texas, but the couple remains one of the city's most generous donors to the arts. They've made very substantial contributions to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Carnegie Hall (where Mercedes is a trustee), although it's the Metropolitan Opera that seems to be nearest and dearest to Mercedes' heart. A longtime Met board member, she announced a $25 million gift to the institution in 2005 to make up for the a shortfall that followed the public disgrace of financier Alberto Vilar. The Met's general manager Joe Volpe was reportedly so taken aback by the spur-of-the-moment donation that he called Mercedes back the next day to confirm that he hadn't been "dreaming or drunk."

Habitat

Mercedes and Sid divide their time between Fort Worth, Texas and a lavish apartment on Fifth Avenue where their neighbors include former Bear Stearns chief Ace Greenberg, Lew Sanders, and Ezra Zilkha and his wife, Cecile.