Nancy Greene, 70; Political Activist, Bonanza Star’s Widow

Nancy Deale Greene, 70, a foreign policy consultant and the widow of “Bonanza” star Lorne Greene, died of cancer March 2 at her home in Marina del Rey.

Greene co-founded the National Women’s Political Caucus in Los Angeles, and in 1972 was an advisor to Sen. Hubert Humphrey (D-Minn.) on national defense issues and women’s rights. A year later, she was appointed to the Democratic Party’s National Task Force on U.S.-Soviet Relations, and she later served as an advisor to Sen. Henry Jackson (D-Wash.).

In the mid-1970s, Greene founded the Women’s Institute of International Relations, a private foundation formed to educate women on military and foreign policy issues and to support their professional participation in U.S. foreign policy institutions.

She also was a member of the Center for Arms Control and Foreign Policy and served as vice president of the American Civil Defense Assn.

A former actress who also was an artist and poet, Greene was raised in Long Island and Toronto.

She married Greene in 1961. He died in 1987 at 72.