08/20/2026 Silver, General, General Paintings
Doyle is honored to auction the Estate of Jorie Butler Kent of Palm Beach, Chicago, Oak Brook, Illinois and Kenya in select sales beginning on September 2. A pioneering figure in American polo, a driving force behind the growth of Abercrombie & Kent luxury travel, and a leader in its philanthropic initiatives, she led an extraordinary life defined by sport, adventure, entrepreneurship, and conservation on an international scale.
Jorie came from one of the great American families—the Butlers—who have had a long and celebrated history in business, exploration, and philanthropy. They also played a central role in the establishment of polo in the United States and founded the Oak Brook Polo Club over 100 years ago, an American polo treasure. Jorie both maintained and elevated these traditions.
A fixture of society from New York to Palm Beach, when the famed fashion illustrator of the late-20th Century, Joe Eula, created a series of women he considered “the 20 most glamourous in New York,” Jorie was included. To her surprise and delight, she received her drawing as an anonymous gift from an admirer. With her business, the luxury travel company, Abercrombie & Kent, and her charities—Friends of Conservation and Abercrombie & Kent Philanthropy—bringing her to adventures in places as diverse as the plains of the Maasai Mara and the uplands of Papua New-Guinea, Jorie bettered the lives of tens of thousands of people with her philanthropic work. Her life was a testament to both adventure and good works.
Jorie succeeded in whatever she set her mind to do. She was a champion equestrian, was a key figure in having women admitted to the U.S. Polo Association, and one of the first women to run a championship polo team, Rolex Abercrombie & Kent. A dear friend of the British Royal family, she organized Princes William and Harry’s inaugural African safari, and her many adventures included coaching the future King Charles III’s polo team to many victories in England, bird watching with noted raconteur George Plimpton—a cousin through the Butler line—and being among the first westerners to lay eyes on the Terracotta Army in China, one of many adventures she had in the process of visiting over 140 countries while developing Abercrombie & Kent. Jorie led a truly unparalleled life. A charming, glamorous, American heiress and philanthropist, hers was an enviable life of adventure—of a myriad of sports, flying airplanes, global travel, and, of course, horses. Horses form a thread throughout her life, from polo stars to her ranch-bred “babies.”
Jorie was the daughter of Chicago socialite and heiress Marjorie Laurietta Ford Stresenreuter and Paul Butler, renowned paper baron, real estate developer, aviation pioneer, and polo patron. Her parents had her on a horse before she could even walk, leading to championships in numerous equine competitions and jumping events including a gold medal at 17 while competing at Madison Square Garden.
An astute businesswoman, visionary and philanthropist whose magnanimous support benefitted communities and the environment worldwide, Jorie followed in the entrepreneurial and philanthropic footsteps of generations of her Butler family.
Descendants of Lieutenant William Butler, born in 1653 in Chebacco Parish, Ipswich, Massachusetts, Jorie’s family were successful paper producers as early as the 1700s. The first American-made paper used by the United States Congress was Butler Paper. When Jorie’s father Paul took over Butler Paper and its holdings, it was one of the largest distributors of paper in the country.
The Butler family also spent part of the winter in Palm Beach, Florida. When Paris Singer established the Everglades Club there in 1919, Jorie’s grandfather and father, F.O. and Paul Butler, were among the eight founding members.
One constant of her life was that she was always on a horse and, whenever in Oak Brook, always flying. She obtained her pilot’s license at 17, taking lessons without her father’s knowledge from the manager of Butler Aviation’s base at Chicago’s Midway Airport. Established in the 1940’s to service private planes, Jorie held an active role in the oversight of the company as comptroller. At the time it was the largest fixed base operation in the United States, with 35 companies based at the busiest airports nationwide.
Before the turn of the 19th century, Jorie’s grandparents bought 5,900 acres of land west of Chicago and north of Hinsdale, Illinois, they named it “Oak Brook Farm.” Eventually it was incorporated by the family as the Village of Oak Brook and became the headquarters of numerous Fortune 500 companies. In love with the American west, her grandparents also purchased several ranches in Montana and another in Hot Springs, South Dakota. It was there that Jorie’s grandfather was introduced to polo, a sport with which Jorie and the Butler family will always be entwined.
In 1921, Jorie’s grandfather and father brought polo to Oak Brook, and in 1922 formally established the family’s legendary Oak Brook Polo Club. Jorie was at the helm from 1963 to 1979, when Oak Brook was the world’s largest private polo facility with 14 polo fields and stabling for 400 horses.
A trailblazer for women in polo, Jorie ensured women could finally be admitted to membership of the USPA. In 1972 she was one of the first two women invited to join the USPA and be awarded a handicap. Jorie nurtured the establishment and growth of the Museum of Polo and guided the launch and success of new polo operations in Palm Beach, Greenwich, and Windsor polo club in Vero Beach, Florida. In 2025, the Museum honored Jorie with the esteemed Iglehart Award and inducted her into the Museum of Polo Hall of Fame.
An original social influencer, Jorie secured Rolex as polo’s first major international sponsor and coached the celebrated Rolex/Abercrombie & Kent polo team, which counted winning multiple USPA Gold Cup and US Open championships among the many celebrated tournaments in which they were victorious. Her equine endeavors included owning and operating horse breeding ranches in Montana and South Carolina.
In 1986, together with her brother, Michael Butler, famed producer of the fabled musical HAIR and also an avid polo enthusiast and player, Jorie invited His Majesty King Charles III, at that time titled His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, to bring an English team to play an international match at Oak Brook Polo Club. The evening before the match, His Highness attended the club’s Polo Ball in the famed Walnut Room of Marshall Field’s flagship store on State Street, with Jorie seated to his right. And following the next day’s polo match, Jorie was with His Highness on the podium when he accepted his winning team’s trophy. Over time, Jorie hosted His Highness to play international matches at Palm Beach Polo Club for four years, and in Vero Beach, Florida, at the Windsor Polo Club which she co-founded.
When Jorie bought a half interest in a fledgling Kenya safari company, Abercrombie & Kent, in 1972, she established a U.S. headquarters office in Oak Brook, in the loft of one of the family’s 14 barns, running telephone and telex underneath the carpeting. A professional photographer, her images graced the covers and pages of A&K’s brochures as well as numerous trade and consumer magazines including Fortune and Vogue.
While co-owner of A&K with Geoffrey Kent for more than four decades, Jorie brought not only her entrepreneurial zeal, but a flair for design, luxury and comfort. A graduate of New York’s Finch College with a degree in commercial design, one of her roles was to organize, oversee and execute the design and décor of A&K properties. Her concepts and treatments made for enticing copy in Architectural Digest, which featured articles about her innovative, sustainably responsible designs at A&K’s Chief’s Camp and Chobe Chilwero in Zambia, as well as A&K’s Sun Boat III in Egypt.
Numerous charitable and civic organizations benefitted from Jorie’s commitment and vision. She served as a founding member of the Sustainable Travel Leadership Network, a founding director of The Green Globe, a World Travel and Tourism (WTTC) subsidiary, as well as the WTTC Ecological Research Center. She was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, London, and her memberships included New York’s Explorer’s Club and The Casino in Chicago.
Conde Nast Traveler gave Jorie the World Savers Award for “Doing It All,” honoring A&K’s industry leadership in social responsibility. She received the Travel + Leisure Global Vision Award for the leadership of Abercrombie & Kent in philanthropic travel. Jorie also received the Chevron Conservation Award, and was honored in London with the respected World Tourism Award in recognition of “her development of Abercrombie & Philanthropy and its commitment to sustainable tourism.”
As Jorie herself said in the memoir she wrote with her beloved daughter Reute Butler, a book friends and colleagues had said for years that she must write: “My life has been filled with incredible adventures, one after another. I have been blessed many times over. I had the great good fortune of walking through so many doors that were opened for me to amazing opportunities and exhilarating experiences. Indeed, I am grateful for every cherished moment.”
Doyle expresses our gratitude to Jorie's daughter, Reute Butler, for this biographical essay chronicling her mother's extraordinary life.
JORIE, The Extraordinary Life of Jorie Butler Kent, Visionary and Philanthropist is available through FriendsofConservation.org
This initial offering of more than 50 lots from the Estate includes numerous silver polo and racing trophies; artwork by Jonathan Kenworthy, Orville Bulman, Kim Donaldson, and LeRoy Neiman; and colorful Lynn Chase dinnerware in a variety of patterns. Additional property from the Estate of Jorie Butler Kent will be offered in select auctions throughout the fall season.
Auction Wednesday, September 2 at 10am
Exhibition Fri, Aug 28 | Mon, Aug 31 | Tues, Sept 1
View Lots | Sale Info
Post-War & Contemporary Fine Art | Auction Wed, Sept 30 at 11am
English & Continental Silver | Auction Oct 2026
Old Master & 19th Century Paintings & Drawings | Oct 2026
American Silver | Auction Oct 2026
Important Fine Art | Auction Nov 2026
Doyle+Design | Auction December 2026
A selection to be offered in Doyle at Home. (L-R) Lot 80. The Cartier Cup Trophy. / Lot 35. Jonathan Kenworthy, Kamba Dancer. / Lot 132. Lynn Chase 'Leopard Lazuli' Porcelain Service. View Lots