Cordelia Scaife May

Cordelia Scaife May (September 24, 1928–January 26, 2005) — known as "Cordy" to family and friends — was a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-area political donor and philanthropist and one of the wealthiest women in the United States. In the year of her death, she was recognized as the single most generous person in the country. May was occasionally labeled as reclusive.[1]

Early life

On September 24, 1928 May was born as Cordelia Scaife in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. May's father was Alan Magee Scaife and her mother was Sarah Cordelia Mellon Scaife. [2] May's maternal grandfather was Richard B. Mellon. May is the grand-niece of Andrew W. Mellon. [3] May and her brother Richard Mellon Scaife grew up at the family estate in Ligonier, Pennsylvania. May attended Foxcroft School, a boarding school for girls.

Education

May attended Carnegie Institute of Technology, now known as Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of Pittsburgh briefly, but left school to get married.

Career

In 1951, May established Laurel Foundation, a private foundation based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. May was the chairman of the Laurel Foundation until 2005. [4] In 1996, May established Colcom Foundation. May served as the chairman of Colcom Foundation until 2005. [5]

Philanthropy

When her mother died in 1965, May inherited a sizable portion of the Mellon fortune. She would distribute tens of millions of dollars to charity through the Laurel Foundation, Colcom Foundation (established 1996), and directly, most on the condition her name not be revealed. In 2005, the year of her death, May was recognized as the single most generous person in the United States. Her charitable donations for the year were almost one-tenth of the $4.3 billion donated by the nation’s leading philanthropists.[6] Critics have noted that a significant portion of her contributions funded anti-immigrant initiatives, including the Center for Immigration Studies, which is listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.[7][8] The LA Times reported that Scaife May was the single largest donor to anti-immigrant causes and "An ardent environmentalist more comfortable with books and birds than with high-society galas, May believed nature was under siege from runaway population growth. Before her death in 2005, she devoted much of her wealth to rolling back the tide--backing birth control and curbing immigration, both legal and illegal."[9]

Personal life

On June 30, 1949 May married Herbert A. May Jr. Within a year, May divorced Herbert A. May Jr. [10] After May's divorce, she resumed a childhood friendship with Robert Duggan. On August 29, 1973, May married Robert W. Duggan in Lake Tahoe, Nevada by Ellsworth Chappell. He was the Allegheny County District Attorney of Pennsylvania. [3] [10] May's husband Robert Duggard was under federal investigation by United States Attorney Dick Thornburgh for allegations of racketeering and corruption. On March 5, 1974, he was found dead of gun shot wounds hours before being indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of income tax evasion. His death was ruled either an accident or suicide, but May maintained that he was murdered.

May was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Death

On January 26, 2005, May died at her home, Cold Comfort Farm, in Ligonier Township, Pennsylvania at age 76, and was cremated. [11] [10]

Philanthropy

May made charitable donations to land conservation, watershed protection, environmental education, and population causes.[12] [10]

May became aware of overpopulation issues in childhood, when she was introduced to the work of Margaret Sanger by her grandmother.[13] By 1952 she began to actively address national population issues. There is a bust of Margaret Sanger in the National Portrait Gallery which was a gift from May.[14][15]

Since her death, it has been suggested that May provided funding for some groups sometimes characterized as hate groups in the United States.[16] One was the Council of Conservative Citizens, which reportedly claims that African-Americans are a "retrograde species of humanity".[17] Before her death, she had donated $200,000 to conservative columnist Samuel T. Francis who called for a halt to all immigration and who opposes the mixing of the races. [18][19]

She also funded the republication and distribution of the racist novel The Camp of the Saints in 1983.[20]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Friends gather to honor memory of Cordelia May", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 11, 2005.
  2. ↑ "Cordelia Scaife". geni.com. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
  3. 1 2 "Mrs. Cordelia S. May Is Wed To Pittsburgh District Attorney". The New York Times. November 7, 1973. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
  4. ↑ "Laurel Foundation". Laurel Foundation. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
  5. ↑ "Colcom Foundation". Colcom Foundation. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
  6. ↑ "Cordelia May tops givers list", Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, February 20, 2006.
  7. ↑ https://splinternews.com/the-eugenicist-doctor-and-the-vast-fortune-behind-trump-1827322435
  8. ↑ https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/center-immigration-studies
  9. ↑ http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jul/25/nation/la-na-immigration-birdlady-20130725
  10. 1 2 3 4 Sullivan, Patricia (January 28, 2005). "Cordelia May, 76: Mellon Heir Avoided Spotlight". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
  11. ↑ Pitz, Marylynne (February 11, 2005). "Friends gather to honor memory of Cordelia May". post-gazette.com. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
  12. ↑ Pro, Johnna A. and Pitz, Marylynne, "Obituary: Cordelia Scaife May", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 27, 2005.
  13. ↑ Vondas, Jerry, "Philanthropist Cordelia Scaife May dies at 76", Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, January 27, 2005.
  14. ↑ "Margaret Sanger", National Portrait Gallery, (accessed August 10, 2018).
  15. ↑ Lauren Hodges Twitter Instagram (2015-08-27). "National Portrait Gallery Won't Remove Bust Of Planned Parenthood Founder : The Two-Way". NPR. Retrieved 2016-06-30.
  16. ↑ Blogsite, Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), July 14, 2009; accessed July 6, 2014.
  17. ↑ Council of Conservative Citizens profile, Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC); accessed July 6, 2014.
  18. ↑ http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jul/25/nation/la-na-immigration-birdlady-20130725
  19. ↑ https://splinternews.com/the-eugenicist-doctor-and-the-vast-fortune-behind-trump-1827322435
  20. ↑ Blumenthal, Paul; Rieger, J. M. (2017-03-04). "This Stunningly Racist French Novel Is How Steve Bannon Explains The World". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2017-03-05.


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