Ruth E. Lilly

ABOUT RUTH E. LILLY

Billionaire heiress to the huge Eli Lilly pharmaceutical fortune made a name for herself supporting literary causes.

She had an isolated childhood, marked by a depression that she carried into her adult life.

One of her most notable gifts was $100 million to the small Chicago-based Poetry Foundation with a working staff of four people and an endowment of $200,000.

Her great-grandfather Colonel Eli Lilly first created the eponymous company, and her father served as president.

The amount and proportion of her fortune that she gave away during her lifetime was equalled by only a few other billionaires, among them Ted Turner .