A Google Wife's Nantucket Takeover


The New York Times Style Section is out this week with a profile of Wendy Schmidt, wife to Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt, documenting her steadily rising influence on the island of Nantucket. If you can get through typical Style Section sentences like, “Ms. Schmidt became enraptured with the island’s translucent light,” (as opposed to all the gross opaque light elsewhere?), it’s an interesting read. That’s not because of the “how”—it’s unsurprising to learn that someone as wealthy as Schmidt has made successful inroads in a place like Nantucket—but more because of the “why.” To that point, Holson writes:

Her commitment to Nantucket is more remarkable, perhaps, because she has no family history here. She was born Wendy Susan Boyle in Short Hills, N.J., the second of five children and the only girl

So why Nantucket? The translucent light, of course. Also other reasons that we suggest you read to discover. [New York Times]