Dorothy Payne Whitney (January 23, 1887 – December 15, 1968) was an American-born social activist and philanthropist and a member of the prominent Whitney family.
Born in Washington, DC, at age 17 she came into a major inheritance following the death of her extremely wealthy father, businessman and statesman, William C. Whitney.
Her first marriage in 1911 was to Willard Dickerman Straight (1880–1918) an orphan from Oswego, New York who went to Co...
more
Dorothy Payne Whitney (January 23, 1887 – December 15, 1968) was an American-born social activist and philanthropist and a member of the prominent Whitney family.
Born in Washington, DC, at age 17 she came into a major inheritance following the death of her extremely wealthy father, businessman and statesman, William C. Whitney.
Her first marriage in 1911 was to Willard Dickerman Straight (1880–1918) an orphan from Oswego, New York who went to Cornell University and by the age of 30 was a powerful man amongst the international community trading in Peking, China. He died at the age of thirty-eight of influenza during the great epidemic while serving with the United States Army in France during World War I. Straight's will requested his wife to continue his philanthropic work in support of Cornell and in 1925 she built Willard Straight Hall, a student union building dedicated to her late husband's memory.
One of the wealthiest women in America in the early 20th century, Dorothy Whitney...
less
