Arts supporter Mary Grant Price dead at 85
By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer
Mary Grant Price, a supporter of the arts in Hawai'i and former wife of the late actor Vincent Price, died March 2 in Boston. She was 85.
Price was born on Feb. 20, 1917, in Broad Haven on the coast of Wales. When she was 5, her family moved to Shanghai, China, where her father ran the Cultee Dairy, which brought pasteurization to China.
Mary Grant Price was a frequent Hawai'i visitor.
Price forged a career in costume design and in 1947 was hired for the movie "Up in Central Park," which starred Vincent Price.
The two began dating and were married in 1949.
The Prices were hired by Sears Roebuck in the 1960s to buy and sell fine art for the department store. Their new job brought them to Hawai'i and the couple purchased works by local artists for shows at Sears.
The couple divorced in 1974 and Mary Price began a career in architectural design.
Her business, Mansions International, bought and redesigned homes in Los Angeles, Boston and Honolulu.
A frequent visitor to the islands, Price became good friends with Duke and Nadine Kahanamoku. She was a patron of the Honolulu Academy of Arts and a member of the Outrigger Canoe Club.
Price is survived by her daughter, Victoria Price; stepson, Vincent Barrett Price; and sister, Clay Grant Davidson.
No services are planned.
