Jean R. Yawkey
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Jean R. Yawkey (January 1, 1909 - February 2, 1992) was a native of Brooklyn, New York. As Jean Hollander, she grew up in Freeport, Long Island, and was a New York fashion model for ten years before becoming Mrs. Tom Yawkey in 1944, in Georgetown, South Carolina.
Mrs. Yawkey's husband, Tom, became president of the Boston Red Sox in 1933, and was the sole owner of the team for 44 seasons, longer than anyone in baseball history.
Mrs. Yawkey was chairwoman of the board of directors of the JRY Corporation, the majority owner and general partner of the Red Sox. She became president of the club following her husband Tom’s death in 1976. In addition to attending virtually every home game, Mrs. Yawkey actively participated along with other JRY Corporation officers in management issues involving the team.
During World War II Mrs. Yawkey was active with the Red Cross. She had a long association with New England's famed Jimmy Fund/Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, as a Trustee and for a period as Chair of the Board. She was active in Tara Hall Home and School for Boys in South Carolina, and she was instrumental in the establishment of the Family Inn in Brookline, Massachusetts, a temporary home for families of patients undergoing transplant surgery in Boston area hospitals. She was also a Trustee of Yawkey Foundation I which supports the 21,000 acre (85 km²) Tom Yawkey Wildlife Center, willed by her late husband, a dedicated conservationist, to the South Carolina Heritage Trust.
A firm believer in equal opportunity, Mrs. Yawkey and the Yawkey Foundations established scholarship funds at Yale University, Boston College, and Boston College High School, was a supporter of the Jackie Robinson Scholarship Program, and supported several other educational institutions to provide minority students and others with scholarship aid. Numerous humanitarian, educational, cultural and athletic activities, including the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston, the Boston Park League, Boston Pops and Symphony Orchestras, Massachusetts General Hospital, John F. Kennedy Library, University of Massachusetts, New England Aquarium, and the Boston Food Bank were also supported by Mrs. Yawkey and the Yawkey Foundations.
Mrs. Yawkey was a Director of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, holding the distinction of being the first woman ever elected to serve on the board of that baseball shrine. In 1991, the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce inducted Mrs. Yawkey into the Academy of Distinguished Bostonians.
Jean R. Yawkey died in Boston, Massachusetts at the age of 83.
See also
External link
- Yawkey Foundations web site (http://www.yawkeyfoundation.org/overview.html)