Mary Elizabeth Florsheim Bradley

BRADLEY, MARY ELIZABETH FLORSHEIM Mary Elizabeth Florsheim Bradley, 90, passed away on Friday, February 5, 2010, at her home in Rancho Santa Fe, California. The eldest child of businessman Irving Florsheim and artist Lillian Florsheim, she was born in Chicago where she attended The Girls Latin School. She then attended St. Margaret's School and Marot College, both in Connecticut. A horsewoman in her youth at Red Top Farm in Libertyville , Illinois, she moved to Los Angeles in 1951 , and went on to become a commanding presence in thoroughbred racing in the seventies and eighties. Frequently teaming up with the unbeatable combination of trainer Charlie Whittingham and jockey Bill Shoemaker, she was the owner of numerous highly successful racehorses. Her best known horse, Cougar II, was the winner of the Eclipse Award and the Santa Anita Handicap, and was inducted into the Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame. Throughout the years she served on numerous boards and charitable organizations. The Sanford Burnham Medical Research Institute in La Jolla honored her last month, the day before her 90th birthday. She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Ellen and William Hunt of Aspen, Colorado, two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. She was buried next to her husband, Robert Bradley, at Pierce Bros. Westwood Village Memorial Park in Los Angeles, California on February 11, 2010.

Published in San Diego Union-Tribune on February 17, 2010