Ruth Lilly; Indianapolis philanthropist (gave 200 million to Poetry Magazine!)
Hyfler/Rosner
Indianapolis philantropist Ruth Lilly dies at age 94
By Will Higgins and Robert King
will.h...@indystar.com
http://www.indystar.com/article/20091231/NEWS/90917059/Philanthropist-Ruth-Lilly-dies-at-age-94
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/chi-poetry-foundation-31-dec31,0,3503555.story
Ruth Lilly, the noted philanthropist and last surviving
great-grandchild of pharmaceutical magnate Eli Lilly, died
Wednesday night at 94, a family spokesman said this morning.
Arrangements are pending.
Over the course of her life, Ms. Lilly gave away the bulk of
her inheritance, an estimated $800-million. That's more than
the cost of Lucas Oil Stadium.
Yet to many, she was just a name on a building - a library,
a hospital wing, a theater, museum exhibits. Ms. Lilly lived
reclusively, was perhaps the most famous person few people
ever saw.
Ensconced behind the brick walls of her Kessler Boulevard
mansion - attended by a staff of nearly 50 people - Ms.
Lilly ventured out only occasionally. She sometimes visited
organizations she'd funded, but more often she'd order her
driver not to stop and be content to with a quick glance.
She gave to a wide variety of causes - colleges, hospitals,
the National Easter Seals Society. But it was her unexpected
donation of $100-million in 2002 to an obscure,
Chicago-based poetry association that revealed something
deeply personal: Ms. Lilly was a poet at heart. Not only did
she read it, she wrote it, though to little acclaim.
The unusual gift sustains Garrison Keillor's daily radio
poetry readings on "The Writer's Almanac," sponsors a poetry
professorship at Indiana University and honors top poets
with prestigious annual awards.
"Poetry has no greater friend than Ruth Lilly," said John
Barr, president of the Poetry Foundation, which received the
whopping grant. (The gift was seen ironic because the
foundation had more than once declined to publish Ms. Lilly's
poetry submissions in its magazine.)
The source of Ms. Lilly's wealth was the pharmaceutical
business her family started in 1876 and built into a global
giant, Eli Lilly & Co.
Despite the comforts its dividends provided - servants,
country clubs, summers in Quisset Harbor and Wood's Hole in
Massachusetts - Ms. Lilly had a hard life. She battled
depression for most of it.
Only in her 70s was the veil lifted - ironically, by Prozac,
Eli Lilly and Co.'s revolutionary anti-depressant.
When Ms. Lilly was born, on Aug. 2, 1915, her family already
was well-established, but its fortunes were still rising.
The family lived in a large, comfortable house in the 4000
block of Washington Boulevard.
She had blue eyes, and wore her hair in a bob. She was
friendly and outgoing. A childhood friend and classmate at
Tudor Hall School, Bertha Elizabeth VanDerbilt, recalled in
a 2002 Star story that Ms. Lilly "had a lovely laugh. She
could draw - such a lovely talent for drawing things - she
was quite bright, especially in French. She took the class
medal for it. Everybody was very fond of Ruth."
Near the end of high school, though, she practically dropped
out of sight. She was absent for much of high school.
The isolation, which may have been depression-related,
coincided with a tragedy that befell another wealthy
American family - the Lindberghs, whose child was stolen
from his crib, held for ransom and eventually killed.
The event frightened wealthy families across the country.
For a time the Lillys employed armed Pinkerton guards to
drive their daughter to her appointments, according to a
2002 Chicago Tribune story.
The same year of the Lindbergh affair, when Ms. Lilly was
17, her family moved from its northside neighborhood to a
secluded estate at 38th Street and Michigan Road in the
community known as Woodstock. Today it's the campus of the
Indianapolis Museum of Art, but then it was Indianapolis'
most prestigious address - and it was gated. (In 1966 the
Lillys, who'd bought out their handful of neighbors, donated
the grounds to the art museum.)
At age 26, Ms. Lilly married Guernsey Van Riper, the son of
a local advertising executive. Officially, the union lasted
40 years, but Ms. Lilly spent many of them at Methodist
Hospital wrestling with her mental illness.
The marriage, which was childless, was officially dissolved
Oct. 19, 1981. A week later, brother J.K. Lilly III had the
fortune of his 66-year-old sister put under a guardianship.
From then on, her checks had to be signed by an attorney. A
court order issued two months later found Ms. Lilly
"incapable of managing her property by reason of age,
illness and infirmity."
But Ms. Lilly rebounded.
Prozac, the Lilly company's most successful drug in decades,
came on the market in 1988. Ms. Lilly began taking the
green-and-white pills, and her outlook brightened. "That
thing made a world of difference," her physician Jack Hall
told the Star in 2002. "Prozac really helped her - it
changed her life."
Irene L. McCutchen, Ms. Lilly's niece, said that in her
later years, "her philanthropy widened her circle of
contacts and interests. Ruth's life became much more
interesting and rewarding as her interests in philanthropy
involved her with a wide variety of Indianapolis
institutions.
"She enjoyed visiting with many wonderful and talented
people who served the community of Indianapolis, Ind.,"
McCutchen said.
Aside from McCutchen, she is survived by five other nieces
and nephews: Ruth Lilly Nicholas, Eli Lilly II, George
Christian Lilly, Josiah Kirby Lilly IV, Kate Lilly Jarvey,
14 great nieces and nephews and 10 great-great nieces and
nephews.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
Additional Facts
At a glance: Ruth Lilly
Born: Aug. 2, 1915.
Graduated: In 1933 from Tudor Hall School, a tony, private
girls school that years later merged with Park School to
form Park Tudor.
Parents: Josiah K. Lilly Jr. and Ruth Brinkmeyer. She is the
great-granddaughter of Col. Eli Lilly, founder of Eli Lilly
and Co.
Married: Guernsey Van Riper in 1941; they later divorced.
They had no children.
Health: Confined to a wheelchair due to a spinal condition;
has suffered from depression since she was a teen.
Philanthropy: A poet, Lilly established the Ruth Lilly
Poetry Prize in 1986 to honor a U.S. poet annually with a
$100,000 prize for extraordinary achievement. In addition,
two Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowships are awarded each year. She
also established a poetry professorship at Indiana
University.
-- Star research
Brad Ferguson
<rel...@rcn.com> wrote:
> Funeral arrangements are pending.
And for God's sake please don't send any lilies.