Silda Spitzer, Profile of an Accomplished Woman

Jan Constantine says that every summer, Spitzer and her daughters buy or gather fruit near their vacation home and make jam with it, which they preserve and give to friends.

"This year it was cherry; last year it was blueberry," says Constantine, who describes Spitzer as "incredibly smart and warm and generous."

In a video of a tour she gave to Domino magazine about her efforts to "green" the governor's mansion in Albany, Spitzer seems friendly and chipper, talking about the possibility of a "carbon-neutral future." She talks about having installed compact fluorescent bulbs in all the lamps, and leads a videographer on a tour of the kitchen and the greenhouse, where the staff grows organic food to serve during meals.

For now, many of Silda Spitzer's friends have closed ranks, declining to comment out of respect for the couple's privacy. They express sadness for what's happened.

"She's not the type of person to crawl into a hole," says the friend familiar with her charity work. "A lot of times when people have something happen, you can really tell who your friends are, and maybe that will be true for him. But she'll have no shortage of people wanting to be there for her."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.