Linda McCartney Biography

Linda Louise, Lady McCartney (September 24, 1941 – April 17, 1998) was an American photographer and animal rights activist. Although perhaps best known for her marriage to Sir Paul McCartney, of The Beatles, she was the author of several vegetarian cookbooks, a business entrepreneur, and professional photographer whose book Linda McCartney's Sixties contains many of her seminal rock-artist photographs from that era.

Linda McCartney was born Linda Louise Eastman in New York, New York to a Jewish family. She grew up in the wealthy Scarsdale area of Westchester County, New York and graduated from Scarsdale High School in 1959. Her father, Lee Eastman, was songwriter Jack Lawrence's attorney, and at the senior Eastman's request, Lawrence titled a song "Linda" in honor of then five-year-old Linda. Her mother was Louise Linder Eastman, heiress to the Linder Department Store fortune, who died in the crash of American Airlines Flight 1 in Queens, New York.

Linda introduced her husband to vegetarianism in 1975 and popularized a meatless diet through her best-selling cookbooks and line of frozen vegetarian meals under the "Linda McCartney" name. [5] These products made her independently wealthy. Additionally, she was a passionate advocate for animal rights, and lent her support to many animal-friendly organizations like PETA and Viva!. After her death, PETA created the Linda McCartney Memorial Award in her honor.

Following in her footsteps, her daughters Mary McCartney Donald and Stella McCartney became passionate activists for animal rights and breast cancer as well.

Her vegetarianism is shown on Lisa The Vegetarian, an episode of The Simpsons.

It is often stated that Linda McCartney is related to the Eastman Kodak dynasty. This is a myth and McCartney had no connection with the family, as she herself explained in an interview. Although, coincidentally, she began her professional career as a photographer.

Her maiden name of Eastman was an anglicised version of her family's original name, Epstein, coincidentally the same surname as the Beatles' long-time manager Brian.