Former wife of legendary singer, Frank Sinatra has passed on on Friday, July 13. Nancy Sinatra Sr. was 101. The news was announced by her daughter, Nancy Sinatra via Twitter.
“My mother passed away peacefully tonight at the age of 101. She was a blessing and the light of my life. Godspeed, Momma. Thank you for everything.”
A similar message was posted on the Sinatra family’s official website: “Godspeed, Momma and thank you for everything you did for us and for the world.”
Nancy (née Barbato) married Frank in Jersey City, New Jersey, in February 1939. She worked as a secretary in a printing plant at the time, while her husband tried to start his career in music as a singing waiter at a local restaurant. The couple went on to have three children together: Nancy, 78, Tina, 70, and Frank Jr., who died at age 72 in March 2016.
Frank Sinatra became a rising name in showbiz thanks to several mega-successful music and movie deals. He starred in Ocean’s 11, From Here to Eternity and Pal Joey, among others.
A string of headline-making extramarital affairs on the crooner’s part led to the end of the couple’s marriage in 1951, most notably with Ava Gardner, whom he wed in November 1951 just days after signing divorce papers with Nancy.
The duo remained friends, but she never remarried. He eventually divorced Gardner in 1957 before his unions with Mia Farrow from 1966 to 1968 and Barbara Marx Sinatra from 1976 until his death at age 82 in May 1998.
In the years after the divorce, Nancy devoted her life to her family and charitable work.
