SARATOGA SPRINGS — Marylou Whitney — the socialite, philanthropist and horse-racing enthusiast who injected new life into Saratoga Springs — died Friday at age 93 after an extended illness.

"The queen has left us," said thoroughbred trainer Nick Zito in response to the news that was delivered over the public address system at the Saratoga Race Course on Friday afternoon and was followed by a moment of silence.

Whitney died at Cady Hill, the family estate near the Route 50 entrance to the Saratoga Performing Arts Center after a brief stay in the Saratoga Hospital.

Her imprint in the community extended far beyond the world of racing, which she helped preserve in Saratoga Springs with her second husband Cornelius Vanderbilt "Sonny" Whitney, and included generous support for the Saratoga Hospital, contributions to the founding of SPAC in 1966 and donating time and money to the track's backstretch workers.

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"There was nobody like her," said Jeannette Jordan, a former reporter for the Saratogian, who enjoyed more than three decades of friendship with Whitney. "You didn't have to have money to be a friend of hers. She loved everybody and was kind to everybody."

Saratoga Springs residents Mike and Linda Toohey, who knew Whitney for 40 years, said she touched countless lives with "selfless, random acts of kindness."

"Although the public saw her at elegant parties and fundraisers, she reveled in living a simpler life, whether it was breathing the crisp cool air of the Adirondacks, feeding carrots to the horses on her farm in Kentucky, or enjoying a quiet moment at Sunday chapel in Saratoga with her family and friends," said the Tooheys in a statement.

From the Times Union archive: Saratoga was her kind of town

Her first marriage, to John Deere heir Frank Hosford, ended in divorce. Sonny Whitney, who she wed in 1958, died in 1992 at age 93. She married John Hendrickson, then a top aide to the governor of Alaska, in 1997.

She had five children, all of whom survive her: two boys, Frank and Henry, and two girls, Heather and Louise, with Hosford, and a daughter, Cornelia, with Whitney.

Whitney came from humble beginnings in Kansas City, where she was born Marie Louise Schroeder on Christmas Eve 1925. She attended the University of Iowa and began working as an actress, with appearances on radio, movies and television.

It was at her insistence that Saratoga Springs became home following her wedding to Sonny Whitney. He had been planning to sell Cady Hill, one of his nine residences, but she fell in love with the property upon first sight.

And while she described the city as a "ghost town" upon arriving in 1958, Adirondack Trust Chairman and CEO Charlie Wait credited her with leading the city's eventual "resurrection."

Whitney became a public figure at the urging of Sonny, according to family friend Maureen Lewi. "He kind of pushed her to be the out front person," she said.

Lewi said the pair shared a desire to invest in the Saratoga Springs community, and every Christmas he would present his young wife with checks to distribute to local charities. For decades, Whitney was named as the honoree at countless summer fundraisers because her presence was a draw for attendees and she could be counted on to lend her support.

When the operation behind the Winter Olympics at Lake Placid in 1980 didn't have the funds to make payroll, it was Whitney who came to the rescue with a check for $100,000. "It seemed like she was always riding in on her horse and saving places," Lewi said.

Whitney donated $1 million to the Saratoga Hospital's radiation oncology center, funded the swimming pool named in her honor at the Saratoga YMCA, donated the landmark statue of thoroughbred Native Dancer outside of Congress Park on Union Avenue and bankrolled much of the race course's 150th anniversary celebrations in 2013.

In recent years, Whitney and Hendrickson turned their attention away from glamorous parties and spent their summers in Saratoga focusing on the track's backstretch workers. They funded a full calendar of events during the meet, including bingo and movies, and could often be found in attendance.

"I saw the deplorable conditions where the people over there lived and it bothered me terribly," Whitney told the Times Union in 2013.

Her relationship with Hendrickson, who was nearly four decades her junior, initially raised eyebrows, but their bond was clear to anyone who spent time with them.

"No one thought so in the beginning, but it was a match made in heaven," Lewi said. "They both know how to have fun and they both have such generous hearts."

"I don't think anyone her age could have stayed up with her," she added. As Whitney's health declined in recent years, including a stroke in 2006, Hendrickson was her dutiful, full-time caretaker.

In her younger years, Lewi said Whitney was "on fire morning, noon and night." She recalled numerous celebrities visiting Saratoga Springs and ending up in the pool at Cady Hill, including a 1 a.m. dip by then-Gov. Hugh Carey.

As a widow, she got involved in dog sledding in Alaska and visited the South Pole.

Most Saratoga Springs residents only knew Whitney from afar, seeing her — often in pink and with a large hat — at the Saratoga Race Course or while making a prominent arrival for her annual summer bash at the Canfield Casino.

And despite marrying twice into extraordinary wealth and taking on the role of the city's social queen, she remained grounded and maintained a sense of humor, including about herself.

More than 20 years ago, when local radio show hosts put on a Marylou Whitney lookalike contest, she attended the event, recounted Wait. After the winner was awarded a small prize, she announced that her doppelgänger would also get to attend the Kentucky Derby with her.

"She turned that whole crowd into Marylou Whitney fans," Wait said.

For seven decades she was inextricably linked to thoroughbred racing, as Sonny was one of racing's blue bloods and she eventually opened her own stable.

After it was announced she would join the Racing Hall of Fame this year, Whitney said, "Horse racing has always given more to me than I could ever give to the sport."

"I have always felt most alive and at home with the people involved with racing," she added. "They are my family."

David O'Rourke, president and CEO of the New York Racing Association, called her "one of thoroughbred racing's greatest ambassadors." In 2010 she received the Eclipse Award of Merit, one of the highest distinctions in thoroughbred racing.

In 2004, Whitney rocked the world of racing when her horse, Birdstone, defeated Smarty Jones at the Belmont Stakes. Zito, Birdstone's trainer, said Whitney apologized to the owners of Smarty Jones for depriving him of the Triple Crown.

He also recalled Birdstone's Travers win, which was followed immediately by a torrential rainstorm. Zito, Whitney and Hendrickson were all soaked but danced through the raindrops into the winner's circle.

"Just a great lady," Zito said. "She had a great run."