Mary de Rachewiltz, the daughter of renowned American poet Ezra Pound, has died at the age of 101. Throughout her life, she was deeply committed to preserving and promoting her father’s literary legacy, despite the controversy surrounding his political affiliations and wartime activities.

Born Maria Rudge on July 9, 1925, in Brixen, South Tyrol, Mary was the product of an affair between Pound and the American violinist Olga Rudge. At the time, Pound was married to English artist Dorothy Shakespear. Following her birth, Mary was placed with a peasant couple in the German-speaking region of South Tyrol, where she was raised alongside other foster children. She grew up speaking the local dialect, attending local schools, and participating in rural community life.

Ezra Pound’s complex personal life included two simultaneous relationships with Olga Rudge and Dorothy Shakespear, estranged wives who maintained separate households at different times. Despite this, Pound was reported to be indulgent toward Mary during his visits, facilitating her interests by buying her sheep and supporting small enterprises. However, the secretive nature of Mary’s parentage meant that Pound neither publicly acknowledged her nor disclosed her existence to his own family until years later.

Pound’s career was marked by significant literary achievements, including collaboration with T.S. Eliot on *The Waste Land* and mentorship of Ernest Hemingway. However, his reputation was marred by his support for Benito Mussolini’s fascism and anti-Semitic radio broadcasts during World War II. Pursued by the U.S. government for high treason, he was detained by American forces in 1945, declared mentally unfit to stand trial, and spent over a decade in a psychiatric hospital in Washington, D.C. After his release in 1958, he returned to Italy, where he lived until his death in 1972.

Mary rejoined her parents in Venice at the age of 13 and later attended a convent school near Florence. Her father encouraged her involvement with his work, notably by challenging her to translate sections of his epic poem *The Cantos* into Italian—a task she fulfilled decades later with notable success, publishing a bilingual edition in 1985.

During the war, Mary was sent back to her foster family to avoid the tensions created by her parents’ complex relationship and the difficult living conditions. It was not until 1944, at age 19, that Pound informed her of his other family. In 1946, Mary married Boris de Rachewiltz, an Italian Egyptologist, and the couple restored Schloss Brunnenburg, a castle in South Tyrol, which became a center for literary study and a repository for her father’s archives.

Mary dedicated much of her life to translating and publishing Pound’s poetry, contributing to the discourse on his work amid persistent criticism related to his political beliefs. In 2004, she successfully campaigned for a commemorative plaque in London honoring Pound’s literary contributions, overcoming prior objections related to his fascist views.

In addition to her translations and memoirs, Mary co-edited *Ezra Pound to His Parents*, a collection of her father’s correspondence published in 2011. In 2025, she received the Italian Dante Alighieri Prize, recognizing both her poetic achievements and her nuanced stewardship of Ezra Pound’s legacy.

Mary de Rachewiltz passed away on July 24, 2026, leaving behind a complex but enduring link to one of the 20th century’s most influential and controversial literary figures.