Eve Mortimer Ledyard | Horse breeder, 89

Eve Mortimer Ledyard, 89, of West Grove, a breeder of thoroughbred race horses, died Oct. 1 of heart failure at home.

Mrs. Ledyard grew up in Manhattan. She was described by New York society columnists as one of the most beautiful debutantes of 1936, said her son Michael Ledyard. The next year, she married Clarence C. Pell, with whom she had two children before divorcing. She married Lewis C. Ledyard III in 1941. The couple had four children.

In 1953, the Ledyards moved from Long Island to a farm in West Grove and established a successful horse-breeding business. Nearly every yearling bred on the farm was a winner at some level, their son said, including several Kentucky Derby entrants and winners of many major stakes races. After her husband died in 1990, Mrs. Ledyard operated the farm for another decade.

She competed in horse shows from an early age, her son said. Through the 1980s, he said, she could be found mounted on a retired racehourse, pursuing her love of fox hunting with three generatins of her family, at meetings of Mr. Stewart's Cheshire Foxhounds.

Mrs. Ledyard cherished her friends, her horses and dogs, gardening and country life. She was known as a stylish hostess, her son said, and  was a witty observer of the human conditiion.

In addition to her son, Mrs. Ledyard is survived by daughters Eve Pell and Wendy Powell; sons Lewis C. Ledyard IV and John Ledyard; a stepdaughter, Evelyn Cochran; 18 grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren. A son, Clarence C. Pell III, died in 1966.

Services were private.