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he and his wife appeared at social functions and cameras appeared, he frequently nudged his somewhat taller wife to the front, saying, “Photograph her, she’s the beautiful one, not me.” He once declared, “I see no value in personal publicity,” and for news stories concerning him he usually insisted that one of a series of “official” photographs, taken in 1970, be used, rather than anything more recent. Similarly, Mr. Tarkington refused to be listed in Who’s Who in America or other biographical volumes.
    The Perfect Wife
    Mrs. Tarkington was considered the perfect wife for a man in her husband’s business. She is the former Consuelo Banning, one of a trio of sisters whom the press dubbed “The Beauteous Bannings,” and who were belles of the Philadelphia social scene in the 1960’s. The Banning sisters, Consuelo, Katharine and Lucinda, were the daughters of George F. Banning, a socially prominent Philadelphia attorney, and all three made socially auspicious marriages: Katharine to Andrew W. Mellon III; Lucinda to Nicholas de N. du Pont; and Consuelo, the youngest, to Mr. Tarkington.
    With her porcelain skin, blond hair, pale blue eyes and model’s size 8 figure, she became an ideal showcase for the designer fashions sold in her husband’s store, and for a number of years her name has appeared high on lists of the world’s best-dressed women. She has toiled for prominent charities, is a highly visible figure at New York’s most fashionable restaurants, and when designers show their collections Mrs. Tarkington is always seated front and center.
    â€œShe’s Tarkington’s merchandise personified,” says a friend who insisted on anonymity. “And having all those Mellons and du Ponts as in-laws didn’t hurt Si’s business either, in terms of attracting the kind of customers he wanted.”
    Mrs. Tarkington was in seclusion today and could not be reached for comment.
    A Regal Life Style
    Mr. and Mrs. Tarkington enjoyed a regal life style. In addition to Flying Horse Farm in Old Westbury and the New York apartment, the couple maintained homes in Lake Sunapee, N.H., and Palm Beach, Fla., and a pied-à-terre on the avenue Foch in Paris. Whenever Mr. Tarkington and his wife appeared in public, Mr. Tarkington, a man with an erect carriage and a full head of silvery hair, was always immaculately groomed and impeccably tailored.
    Whatever his detractors may say about him, few would disagree that Silas Tarkington created and leaves behind him a retail establishment that is perhaps unique. In 1990 Mr. Tarkington received the Merchant of the Year award from the New York Retailers Association. In 1987 he received a special award from the Fifth Avenue Association for having done the most to maintain the tone of the street. Past recipients have been Pierre Cartier II, Dr. Aldo Gucci and Harry Winston.
    Mr. Tarkington’s interests, other than his company, included racehorses, which he bred and raced in Britain, Ireland and France. Though he declined to race any of his horses in the United States, one of his stallions, Flying Flame, won the Arc de Triomphe in Paris in 1971 and went on to win other important purses before being put out to stud in 1975. Flying Horse Farm, the Tarkington estate on Long Island, was named for this stallion.
    Mr. Tarkington also amassed an important collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings. It has long been understood that the Tarkington collection will be left to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. “That has been our informal understanding,” Philippe de Montebello, the museum’s director, told The Times . “But we shall have to see the terms of the will before we know whether the gift is a fact.”
    Shock Expressed
    Friends today expressed shock at Mr. Tarkington’s sudden death. “I saw him Friday at the Athletic Club,” said one. “He looked to be in the peak of