Mrs. Russell Sage

When Russell Sage died in 1906, he left his wife a vast fortune. Olivia Sage put the money to her own uses. Spending replaced volunteer work and suffrage bazaars and fundraising fêtes gave way to large donations to favorite causes. As a widow, Olivia Sage moved in public with authority. Invoking the name of her late husband, she created her most significant philanthropy, the Russell Sage Foundation.