Quiet Philanthropist - Here's to one of the best....

[Are_grits_groceries]

She lives alone in a one-bedroom apartment on Seattle's First Hill, dying of lung cancer, joking that there is no need for duct tape on her windows. As the city comes to life in the morning, it is impossible not to notice the imprint of Priscilla Bullitt Collins.

On the air, classical music flows -- endowed for perpetuity. Downtown, a garden awakens in the late winter sunshine, holding not just plants but the names of Washington State veterans who died in distant wars. At the edge of the city, a wild stream has been set aside for nature. And here on First Hill is a housing complex for the janitors, nurses, teachers and others who could otherwise never afford to live among the mansions of Seattle's original timber barons.

Over the last decade, Ms. Collins has quietly given away more than $100 million. At 82, she says she could die any minute, but has written her will so that more wild land will be protected, and girls in far away sub-Saharan Africa will have schools to attend.

She has only one strict condition -- none of this largess will ever bear her name.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A07E1D81E3FF93AA35750C0A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all

A toast to Priscilla Bullitt Collins...Raise your glasses high....:toast: :patriot:

[Berry Cool]

1. Thanks for linking to this.

A definite K&R. If you're depressed about the state of the world and your life right now, this is a story to read. A reminder that not all rich people are greedy and evil, and that the spirit of human love and generosity still exists.

[Are_grits_groceries]

2. Made me feel better. nt

[Mnemosyne]

3. .

:toast:

[NaturalHigh]

4. What a wonderful story.

:toast:

[Are_grits_groceries]

5. Another toast....

:toast:

[mrbarber]

6. What an amazing human being.

I raise my glass to her.

[Are_grits_groceries]

7. .

[shireen]

8. a lovely lady

thank you, Ms. Collins. :hug:

[OneGrassRoot]

9. I shall raise my glass high this evening in honor of this woman....

thank you for sharing! :)

:toast:

[cilla4progress]

10. Her sister is no slouch either!

I live in a part of Washington state that is as red as northern Idaho. Priscilla's sister, Harriet Bullitt, has become the patron saint of environmentalism and the arts in an otherwise dreary, hardline, backwater part of the country. Through her bucks and activism, she has enlivened the progressive spirit here, made it "safe" to be a Democrat, and funded a land trust and other significant environmental preservation.

Those old timber barons apparently did pass on values to their kin!

[Are_grits_groceries]

11. And a toast to her too!

:toast:

[progressoid]

12. K/R for an uplifting story.

[Are_grits_groceries]

13. Cheers...

[Uncle Joe]

14. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Are_grits_groceries.

[Are_grits_groceries]

15. You are most welcome.

After hearing about Octomom, Cramer, Vitter, Sanford, Rush, Cantor,Beck, Chuck Norris and more ad nauseum, I needed to return to the surface of the Earth for a breath of fresh air.
If people were only a little more like Ms.Collins, it would make such a difference.

[Uncle Joe]

16. I agree.

:) :thumbsup:

[Are_grits_groceries]

17. .

[Mind_your_head]

18. One really has to stop-in-their-tracks and actually THINK about what she did/is doing

and why. Reflect upon what brought her to the conclusion that "this would be the correct/best thing to do with her money".

Something we all, no matter how large or small our 'fortune' may be....can reflect upon.

Peace (and THANK YOU) Priscilla Bullitt Collins!

[LuckyLib]

19. And best of all -- "none of this largess will ever bear her name. "

I have always believed that true philanthropy is done because it is right, not because you expect to be seen, honored, or have your name live on. I don't believe any names should appear on any public places, buildings, parks, etc. This was a practice that began at a time when white males made a practice of putting their names and photos (their brands) on everything that moved. And to this day we live with buildings named for some old guy from the distant past, or are bombarded by places named to honor some big moneyed donor.

Ms. Collins gets it. What a wonderful example.

:toast:

[Are_grits_groceries]

20. This should be our motto:

''People think my mother had causes,'' Ms. Collins said. ''She didn't have causes; she had principles.''

Those are words to live by. :toast:

[Hannah Bell]

21. The Bullitts are distant cousins of Obama, Brit Hume & Katherine Hepburn.

Common Ancestors: Frances BURDITT + Burr HARRISON (1637)
|                                       |
Thomas +  Sylvia		         Sybil (1669) + Thomas 
HARRISON  SHORT		                 HARRISON       WHITTLEDGE
|--------------------|                            |
Burr HARRISON      Sarah HARRISON	      William WHITTLEDGE 	  
		
+ Mary BARNES	   + Benjamin BULLITT	      + Frances OVERALL
|                   |                             |
Sarah HARRISON	   Cuthbert BULLITT (1740)   Frances WHITLEDGE

+ Levin POWELL	    + Helen SCOTT	      + John OVERALL Jr.  
|            |               |                    |
6 to         5 to            5 to  	          8 to OBAMA
HUME        HEPBURN         BULLITT Sisters



The Bullitts inherited not only KING empire, but Seattle Real
Estate & Simpson Timber $$$. 

Simpson Timber had involvement in Ed Doheny's Mexican oil
dealings, once the most profitable of all rivals:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_L._Doheny

Doheny = subject of film "There Will be Blood" &
involved in the Teapot Dome Scandal

I'm sure she's a lovely woman, but the Bullitts have been rich
& elite since the 1600s - at least.  That's why the gifts
she "doesn't want known" get written up in the NYT.

US fortune originally derived from plantation slave labor,
BTW.

[Are_grits_groceries]

22. That's a lovely chart.

So because the original fortune was derived from slave labor and all the other evils you have laid out so nicely, Ms. Collins should be damned for passing on her fortune to good works.

As for being written up in the NYT, I haven't seen her name splashed about ostentatiously over the years. But "smack, smack, smack" on her for this article I happened to find.

Bless your heart! You seem to have spent an awful lot of time gathering a lot of sour grapes for some reason.

[Hannah Bell]

23. as i said, i'm sure she's a lovely lady.

but the family hasn't stayed rich & powerful for 300-plus years by accident.

i don't idolize the rich when they toss crumbs to the peons. i'm cognizant of how little they actually "give" that doesn't in fact, return to them & theirs.

call it sour grapes if you like, i prefer to think of it as not believing in illusions.

no, the bullitts keep a low profile, compared to the likes of the gates. older money, you know.

though the gates' goes back further than most people think.

She has heirs. Do you think they're less rich than she is? Do you think she's stinted her heirs, "giving away" so much?

Doubtful.

and i've just scratched the surface of the bullitt family fortunes & connections. here's a close cousin's recent obit:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A04E4DE113AF931A3575AC0A9619C8B63


BULLITT--Anne Moen, 83, died August 18, 2007 in Dublin, Ireland, the only child of the late Louise Bryant and William Christian Bullitt, who served as Ambassador to the Soviet Union and France under President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Anne Bullitt lived for more than 40 years at Palmerstown House, Kill, County Kildare. She was the first woman breeder and trainer of thoroughbred horses in Ireland, where she was known and respected as the manager of Palmerstown Stud, the largest horse farm in Ireland. In her early years she was formerly married to Caspar Wistar Barton Townsend, Jr. (provident life, etc.), Nicholas Duke Biddle (Duke = Tobacco, Biddle = banking), Roderic More O'Ferrall (horses, irish landowners) and Daniel B. Brewster (Senator & r/t "the" Brewsters).

her former estate in ireland:

http://www.palmerstownhouse.com/palmerstown-house/history.aspx

[Are_grits_groceries]

24. *sigh*

So many grapes. So little time.

One cannot even give a nod of appreciation lest it be called idolizing.

And to you, bless your heart:

[Hannah Bell]

25. oh, sigh, yourself.

learning where rich people's money really comes from has nothing to do with sour grapes.

steep price is paid so some can play lady bountiful.

[Hannah Bell]

26. I notice the NYT even lies re the origins of the (immediate) family fortune

Say Ms Collins' grandpa arrived in Seattle in 1889, started a shingle mill, & made a "fortune" from the demand for lumber after the Seattle fire.

Crock 'o crap. The Stimpsons were rich long before they hit Seattle, great grandpa started lumbering in Michigan & several other states before they got to Washington, & the family was rich even before that.


BULLITT Line:

The BULLITT family's history begins in 1685 when the Hugenot founder of the dynasty, Joseph BULLITT, came from France to settle in Port Tobacco, Maryland. Son Benjamin married into the tobacco planter aristocracy.

Grandson Thomas BULLITT (1734) was a friend of George WASHINGTON and Thomas JEFFERSON, a land speculator, explorer, Captain in the French & Indian War, Adjutant General of the Virginia militia in the Revolution, & owner of thousands of acres in multiple territories.

Brother Cuthbert was a planter & delegate to Virginia's revolutionary Congress, & a judge.

His son Alexander Scott was a Kentucky pioneer, part of the migration that some of Col. Levin POWELL's sons took part in. He established his 1000-acre plantation Oxmoor (the home is still in the family) near present-day Louisville & married revolutionary leader Patrick HENRY's niece. He was on the committee which wrote the state Constitution, a Senator, & namesake of Bullitt County.

Son Thomas Walker BULLITT was "one of the leading attorneys of Louisville," a planter at Oxmoor, & a representative in the 1850 state Constitutional Convention.

His son Alexander Scott BULLITT (1877), Princeton, U. of Virginia Law, was Jefferson County attorney. He married Dorothy STIMSON, heiress of the Charles D STIMSON timber fortune.

The STIMSON family fortune had been founded in the 1800s when CD's grandfather Thomas, scion of a family "long prominent in the commercial progress of the country," founded a lumber business in Michigan which grew to include mills, distribution outlets & holdings in Illinois, Washington, California, & the Southwest.

The STIMSON family business also partnered with EL DOHENY & CA CANFIELD in oil ventures in California, the Southwest, & Mexico, incorporating the Mexican Petroleum Company & the National Gas Company of Mexico. DOHENY was accused of bribery in the Harding Administration Teapot Dome Scandal. The movie "There Will Be Blood" is loosely based on his life.

Stimson Lumber is still in existence & privately held. It did $246 million in sales in 2007. Its largest customer is Home Depot. The DOHENY oil interests were acquired by the Rockefellers' Standard Oil in 1925, making Standard Mexico's biggest oil producer.

Alexander Scott BULLITT became a Washington State Democratic Party leader & mentor to future governor Warren MAGNUSON. His business interests included management of University of Washington properties.

US Solicitor General William Marshall BULLITT (1873) was his brother.

First cousins included William Christian BULLITT Jr. (1891), whose second wife was Louise BRYANT, widow of the revolutionary John REED (whose life is chronicled in the movie "Reds"). WC BULLITT's grandfather was a founder of the white-shoe law firm Drinker, Biddle & Reath. WC himself was a diplomat who took part in Woodrow WILSON's WWI negotiations at Versailles & was FDR's Ambassador to the Soviet Union, then to France.

Alexander Scott BULLITT (1877) had been scheduled to place FDR's name in nomination at the 1932 Democratic Convention, but he died before the event, leaving his widow a large inheritance of Seattle real estate. The widow, STIMSON heiress Dorothy, took his place as delegate to the Democratic convention. She went on to found Seattle's KING-TV, which became an NBC affiliate station in 1959.

KING had the country's first full-time female news anchor (Jean Enersen) & produced Bill Nye the Science Guy. Lou Dobbs worked there from 1976-1980. Children's programs Wunda Wunda & Captain Puget were produced by KING. Senator Joseph McCarthy threatened to have the station's license pulled due to suspected communist sympathies.

Dorothy BULLITT added more media properties in several states to her holdings, leaving her heirs one of the most valuable privately-held media companies on the West Coast.

The BULLITTs continue to be prominent in Seattle, Washington state, & national affairs.



Wherever it says "planter," you can read "slaveowner".

[Hannah Bell]

27. My kin are some of those loggers & millworkers the Stimpson-Bullitts got rich(er) off of.

Ms. Collins protects some bits of the environment.

But Stimson is selling their timberlands to build condos like most of the big timber cos.

You know where they got a lot of the land in the first place?

hint: free.

[Are_grits_groceries]

28. I'm from SC so

you don't have to lecture me about illgotten gains. I wish every philanthropist had gained their money with clean hands. I didn't think they had gotten it by collecting pots at the end of rainbows. (And believe me I know all about "planters.") The history is important, and should not be forgotten.

What I care about is what people do with the money they are given. There a lot of enormously rich people who have used their money and influence in very destructive ways. Ms. Collins, however, seems to be using her inheritance for better purposes. I don't begin to claim she is a saint.

I acknowledged someone who was doing good. You have posted enough research to start a good thesis about where the money came from. If it isn't sour grapes, it certainly seems to be a lot of anger towards Ms. Collins, and towards my post.

Have at it with the indignation and whatever. Knock yourself out.

I'm going to spend some time actively working against someone who is doing a great deal of damage now. My esteemed Governor, Mark Sanford.

Edit: I won't recount for you the ways my forbears have taken advantage of. You aren't the only one that has been walked on.

:) :toast:

[Hannah Bell]

29. i have no particular anger toward ms C. but i see no particular reason to lionize her, either.

she may do wonderful things with her money.

but the capital came mostly from other people's sweat, land theft, political connections. i think it's important for ordinary people to know it.

i understand why you posted the nice news, i understand i'm p--sing on your nice news a bit & i thank you for being gracious in your response.

[Are_grits_groceries]

30. Let's agree not to piss on each other.

I know you weren't on me, and I certainly didn't mean to aim at you. I have rarely been accused of being gracious. Obnoxious has been the preferred term.

[Hannah Bell]

31. just meant you didn't descend into snark & name calling

like sometimes happens if one has a different take on some matter here.

i think it's a sign of graciousness to be able to deal with divergent opinions without nastiness while maintaining the conversation.

so i thank you. wasn't my intention to piss on you, or even on ms. collins.

rather on the institution of wealth, & the idolization of the profession of "philanthropist"

[Are_grits_groceries]

32. As I said, I felt no liquid.

Usually there is at least poo flinging. Thank you too.