Mary Alice Fortin, 97, philanthropist, mother of actress Stockard Channing, dies
wazzzy
Mary Alice Fortin, philanthropist and mother of actress Stockard
Channing, died Wednesday night in Palm Beach after an extended
illness. She was 97.
For more than three decades, Fortin gave millions of dollars to
education and health-care facilities in Montana and Florida.
Several buildings in Billings were named in honor of either Fortin,
late husband Philip N. Fortin or both of them.
Among the buildings are the Mary Alice Fortin Health Conference Center
at Billings Clinic, the Fortin Lobby at St. Vincent Healthcare and the
Fortin Education Center at Rocky Mountain College. The Mary Alice
Fortin Science Center at Carroll College in Helena was completed in
2000.
Fortin also supported a medical-systems and computer-education center
at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and the Fortin Childcare
Foundation for children with AIDS in South Bay, Fla.
Mary Alice English was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Jan. 27, 1910.
According to a 1987 Billings Gazette article about Fortin, she studied
at Hunter College and married shipping magnate Lester Napier Stockard
during the Depression. They had two daughters, Susan Stockard Channing
and Lesly Stockard Smith, the latter the mayor of Palm Beach in 2000.
Lester Stockard died in 1950.
His widow met Philip Fortin, a widower and Montana-born oilman, in
Palm Beach and they were married in 1968. Philip Fortin was 86 when he
died in 1982.
David Irion, executive director of the St. Vincent Healthcare
Foundation, said Thursday that the Fortins not only contributed
generously to large capital projects, such as the hospital's west wing
named after the couple, but Mary Alice Fortin annually sent a check to
buy Christmas presents for children in St. Vincent's pediatric unit.
``The family has had a profound impact on Billings and has been a
catalyst for a great community spirit,'' Irion said.
Former Rocky Mountain College President Arthur DeRosier said Fortin
contributed to less-glamorous projects such as reroofing the Fortin
Education Center and replacing pipes for the swimming pool. She also
gave money to expand and renovate the college library and to fund
scholarships.
Rocky awarded her an honorary doctorate in 1987.
In a few months, work on an addition to the Billings Ronald McDonald
House is scheduled, a project made possible with a $234,400 donation
from the Mary Alice Fortin Foundation of Florida. The Fortin
Foundation gave $350,000 for expansion work in 2000.
The foundation had assets of more than $43 million at the end of 2004,
according to The Foundation Center.
Patty Nelson, who became close friends with Fortin in the late 1970s
when they worked to raise money for the neonatal unit at St. Vincent
Healthcare, described her as a private person who was low-key about
recognition for her philanthropy. Nelson's first word in describing
her friend's personality was ``fun.''
``She loved a good story. She loved a good party. She loved a good
laugh. She liked people,'' Nelson said. ``With her Palm Beach
background, she had big parties, and she liked big parties.''
Shelley Van Atta, who worked at Rocky Mountain College during
DeRosier's administration, said Fortin ``loved sentiment'' and
cherished a photo of Rocky students holding large letters that spelled
out ``We love you Mrs. Fortin.''
Her funeral is scheduled for Wednesday at St. Edward Catholic Church
in Palm Beach, according to Quattlebaum Funeral & Cremation Services.
rodney...@gmail.com
and Stockard Channing are sisters is amazing to me.
jmts...@cox.net