Eli Lilly
Eli Lilly transformed a sleepy family business into a pharmaceutical powerhouse, proving along the way that economic pragmatism and generosity are often complementary. Eli’s namesake grandfather—called “Colonel Lilly” for his Read more…
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Andrew Mellon
Andrew Mellon was one of the most prominent financiers in American history. Mellon investments helped launch the aluminum, coke, and carborundum industries; by the 1920s, he paid the third-highest income Read more…
Judah Touro
Judah Touro was a leading merchant and philanthropist during the early days of our nation, known for benefactions throughout the country, but especially in Louisiana and Rhode Island. Born in Read more…
George Washington
George Washington was, according to Henry “Light-horse Harry” Lee, “first in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen.” Although it is much less well known, Washington Read more…
Sebastian Kresge
Sebastian Kresge was among the most successful retailers in American history. The founder of what would become the K-Mart chain of discount stores, he was also an accomplished philanthropist who Read more…
Isaiah Williamson
Isaiah Williamson was born on February 4, 1803, near Bensalem Township in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The son of devout Quakers, he was one of eight children, a farm boy who Read more…
Nettie Fowler McCormick
Nancy (“Nettie”) Fowler McCormick never expected to lead a life of ease. Orphaned at age 7, she learned early in life to make the most of her days. Such firm Read more…
Zachary Fisher
Zachary Fisher, with his brothers Martin and Larry, built a fortune as a real estate developer in New York City. That fortune has since been devoted to a wide variety Read more…
Margaret Olivia Sage
Margaret Olivia Sage was the widow of Russell Sage, among the greatest Wall Street investors of the 19th century. When the 89-year-old financier died in 1906, he instantly made her Read more…
Ellen Browning Scripps
Ellen Browning Scripps, whose fortune derived from the Scripps family’s newspaper empire, is not well known outside of southern California, largely because she confined her extensive philanthropy to local causes. Read more…
Mary Garrett
Mary Elizabeth Garrett ranks among the nation’s most significant benefactors of higher education for women. Born in 1853 to wealth and privilege, Garrett was the third child (and only daughter) Read more…
Ima Hogg
Ima Hogg ranks among the best-known and most admired philanthropists in the history of Texas. For much of her life, she was affectionately known as the “First Lady of Texas,” Read more…
J. Howard Pew
John Howard Pew was a successful oil entrepreneur who dedicated his philanthropy to serving the Presbyterian Church, funding higher education, and advancing the principles of a free society. Born into Read more…
Madam C. J. Walker
Madam C. J. Walker ranks among the greatest African-American philanthropists in the nation’s history. When she died in 1919, Walker was widely eulogized as the first woman to become a Read more…
Julius Rosenwald
Julius Rosenwald, who was born in 1862 while Abraham Lincoln was president, in a house just one block from the liberator’s own home in Springfield, Illinois, eventually played his own Read more…
Henry Phipps Jr.
Henry Phipps Jr. was a lifelong friend and business partner of Andrew Carnegie. The second-largest shareholder in Carnegie Steel, he had a brilliant mind for finance and accumulated one of Read more…
Peter Cooper
Peter Cooper was a remarkable man, an industrialist, civic leader, and philanthropist, a first-rate inventor who was also—uncharacteristically of inventors—a first-rate businessman. Just as remarkably, Cooper knew what he wanted Read more…
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin is perhaps the greatest polymath of American history. He was known by turns as a scientist and satirist, an inventor and entrepreneur, a printer and politician. Within his Read more…
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie may be the most influential philanthropist in American history. The scale of his giving is almost without peer: adjusted for inflation, his donations exceed those of virtually everyone Read more…
John Olin
John Olin was an entrepreneur and industrialist who went on to become one of the twentieth-century’s most influential philanthropists in public policy. Olin was born on November 10, 1892, in Read more…