Pat Montandon, San Francisco socialite and peace campaigner, dies at 96

Pat Montandon, a well‑known San Francisco society figure, gossip columnist and author who later led children on global pleas for peace, died on Dec. 21 at her home in Palm Desert, Calif. She was 96. Her death was confirmed by her son, Sean Wilsey. Born Patsy Lou Montandon on Dec. 26, 1928, in Merkel, Texas, she rose to local fame in 1960s San Francisco for lavish themed dinner parties, “round table” lunches and a flamboyant public persona that included radio party tips and introducing movies on local television.

She published How to Be a Party Girl in 1968 and was once called the West Coast’s No. 1 hostess by Esquire; she was also frequently mocked by the city’s chroniclers, most notably Herb Caen, and parodied by Armistead Maupin. Her 1969 marriage to Alfred Wilsey ended after 10 years, and the divorce was widely covered by the press.

The judge awarded her the couple’s marble‑lined penthouse and $20,000 a month for eight years; she had sought a larger settlement and was publicly criticized for her expenses. After a deep depression she sought New Age therapy, had a vision of nuclear annihilation and then organized groups of children, including her son, to visit world leaders pleading for peace.

Those trips, documented by film crews, included meetings with Pope John Paul II, Indira Gandhi, Menachem Begin and Helmut Kohl, visits to Hiroshima and a moment that reportedly moved Mikhail Gorbachev to tears.

Key Topics

Culture, Pat Montandon, San Francisco, Palm Desert, Alfred Wilsey, Sean Wilsey