Former Vice President Daughter Dies of Brain Cancer

Eleanor Mondale Poling dead at the age of 51

(RxWiki News) She grew up in the spotlight, the daughter of a U.S. Senator and later the Vice President of the United States, Walter Mondale. It seemed natural that Eleanor Mondale would seek her own spotlight in broadcasting.

Eleanor became a star, working in radio and television for 25 years. Her on-air venues ranged from ESPN, E! Online and CBS to WCCO-TV and later WLOL-FM radio.

She also had bit acting roles on TV series, and was actively involved in her dad's failed 1984 campaign against Ronald Reagan.

Her love life was as colorful as she was. Eleanor dated the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger and musicians Warren Zevon and Don Henley.

The beautiful, funny, some even called "outrageous" lady was on a camping trip in 2005 when she had two seizures. A baseball-sized tumor was discovered in the right front of her brain.

She said at the time that "denial" was the way she treated the disease - along with chemotherapy and radiation.

That same year Eleanor married her third husband - composer and musician, Chan Poling. In typical style, she said it was sort of a rush marriage because she didn't know how long she'd be alive.

The Polings lived on a farm in Prior Lake, Minnesota where they raised miniature horses. She was also co-host of a morning radio program on WCCO-AM in Minneapolis. It was an idyllic life.

Then the cancer came back in 2008 and again in 2009.

Eleanor Mondale Poling died on September 17, 2011 at the age of 51.

Review Date: 
September 18, 2011