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Tony Bennett’s death was announced today. He died at 96 year old after battling Alzheimer’s since the year 2016. He and his wife, Susan Benedetto, had a romance for the ages, spanning two decades after first meeting in the 1980s. Scroll down to learn more about her:
She used to be a teacher
Benedetto is a graduate from Fordham University and Columbia University. For some years, she teached social studies at a public high school in New York called the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and the Performing Arts.
She is his third wife
Benedetto is Bennett’s third wife. He previously married Patricia Beech and having a relationship that ran from 1952 through 1971. He then married Sandra Grant in the year 1971, divorcing her in 1979. They married in 2007.
Benedetto was one of his biggest fans
Benedetto was 40 years younger than Bennett and was a fan for most of her life before they met when she was 19 years old. She was the president of his fan club and managed to get a backstage pass to meet him. They started dating shortly afterward.
Bennett discussed the moment they met on his memoir
Bennett published a memoir called “Just Getting Started,” where he discussed his music and his life, including his relationship with Benedetto. He revealed he met her parents when Benedetto’s mother was pregnant with her, years before knowing she’d be his wife. “As fate would have it, Marion was pregnant at the time with … Susan!” said Bennett. “It’s a photo we all laugh about, knowing the incredible turn of events that followed.”
Benedetto and Bennett co-founded an arts non-profit
In 1999, Benedetto and Bennett founded “Exploring the Arts,” a non-profit that supports the arts and promotes education with over 50 school partnerships across New York and Los Angeles. "Together we founded a nonprofit organization, Exploring the Arts (ETA), to transform the lives of young people through arts education,” wrote Benedetto in a Huffington Post op-ed.