Kevin Rader/Eyewitness News
Indianapolis - Heiress Ruth Lilly died Wednesday at the age of 94. She leaves behind a legacy of philanthropy.
Lilly gave over half a billion dollars to charitable entities. She is one of the largest donors in the history of Indiana University, funding two fellowships for poetry and an endowed chair.
"Ruth Lilly is among the most significant donors IU has ever had," said IU Foundation President Dr. Gene Tempel. He estimates Ruth Lilly donated some $30 million to the university. Those gifts fund two fellowships for graduate students in poetry and an endowed chair.
"It allows the university to really have someone, a poet of some stature in that position, as part of the teaching position at that University," said Tempel.
The Indianapolis Museum of Art is located on the site of Lilly's parents' estate which she donated in 1966. The last surviving great-grandchild of pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly also gave generously in the area of health care.
"She gave her first major gift to Methodist and we are proud of that, to create the hospice program at Methodist which is the first in hospital hospice in the country at that time in the early eighties," said Betty Stillwell, Methodist Hospital.
Methodist also donated the land for the Ruth Lilly Health Education Center which teaches children about health.
An aspiring poet, Ruth Lilly donated a generous $100 million gift - which has since grown to $200 million - to the literary magazine "Poetry". The Chicago-based publication started in 1912 and published Robert Frost and Langston Hughes, but always rejected her submissions.
Gov. Mitch Daniels issued a statement saying, "Ruth Lilly personified the family tradition of overwhelming generosity and special devotion to the state of Indiana. Her countless gifts will keep on giving for generations."
Court records filed in 2002 show that she will continue giving even in death, bequeathing $100 million to the Lilly Endowment, $86 million to the organization Americans for the Arts, based in Washington, DC, and $200 million to establish the new Ruth Lilly Philanthropic Foundation.
"Her generosity and philanthropic spirit will continue for many years to come," said Stillwell.
Declared incapable of managing her affairs because of age, illness and infirmity in 1981, she lived in seclusion and under a court-appointed guardian. The financial dealings of the guardian, allegedly acting in her behalf, came into question in November 1998 in a WTHR investigation Guarding the Guardians. That investigation showed frivolous spending on lavish trips and questionable fees which resulted in repayment of funds to her estate.
In passing away on Wednesday, the woman renown for giving won't bequeath as much to family as she might have. The estate tax - which affects about 5,500 Americans, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal - will lapse for one year beginning Jan. 1.
Related stories:
