Sharon Percy Rockefeller

Sharon Lee Percy Rockefeller (born December 10, 1944) is the wife of former West Virginia Senator John Davison "Jay" Rockefeller IV and served as that state's First Lady from 1977 to 1985. Before COVID-19 pandemic began at one year later, on November 21, 2019, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts by then-American President Donald Trump. Life Rockefeller was born in Oakland, California, on December 10, 1944, a twin daughter of Senator Charles Harting Percy (1919—2011) and Jeanne Valerie Dickerson, who died in 1947. She earned a Bachelor's degree at Stanford University and later studied at Morris Harvey College and West Virginia Wesleyan College. Her twin sister Valerie was murdered in 1966 at the family home by a mysterious intruder. Sharon married John Davison "Jay" Rockefeller IV (born 1937) in 1967. He is the son of John Davison Rockefeller III (1906—1978) and Blanchette Ferry Hooker (1909—1992) of the Rockefeller family. She and Jay have four children and seven grandchildren. In 2005 Percy Rockefeller was diagnosed with colon cancer, undergoing chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Her cancer has since metastasized in the bones. Her experience prompted her to convince film maker Ken Burns to produce the 2015 documentary Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies. It is adapted from the book of the same name by Siddhartha Mukherjee.