Sarah Mellon

Born on December 10, 1903, Sarah Cordelia Mellon was the daughter of Jennie Taylor Mellon (1870–1938; née King) and Richard B. Mellon (1858–1933), a noted banker, industrialist, and philanthropist.{{cite news |title=RICHARD B. MELLON, FINANCIER, 75, DEAD; Brother of Former Secretary of Treasury Wielded Wide Powers as Industrialist. A NOTED PHILANTHROPIST Co-Founder of Famous Research Institute Shared in Family's Immense Fortune. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1933/12/02/105824644.pdf |accessdate=15 August 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=2 December 1933}}

Her paternal grandfather was Judge Thomas Mellon and her uncle was Andrew W. Mellon, a Secretary of the Treasury during the Great Depression and U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James'. She was one of the heirs to the Mellon fortune, including Mellon Bank and major investments in Gulf Oil and Alcoa.{{cite news |title=R. B. MELLON LEFT ESTATE TO FAMILY; Will, as Filed, Disposes of $2,000,000 -- Fortune Reported at $200,000,000. INSTITUTE GETS $1,100,000 $250,000 to House and Business Employes -- Many Gifts to Charity in Testator's Life. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1933/12/09/105827036.pdf |accessdate=15 August 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=9 December 1933}} Her maternal grandparents were merchant Alexander King and Sarah Cordelia (née Smith) King.{{cite news |title=MRS. R. B. MELLON, WIDOW OF BANKER; Sister-in-Law of Late Secretary of Treasury Is Dead |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1938/11/16/96855609.pdf |accessdate=15 August 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=16 November 1938}}

In 1957, when Fortune prepared its first list of the wealthiest Americans, it estimated that Sarah Mellon, her brother Richard King Mellon, and her cousins Ailsa Mellon-Bruce and Paul Mellon were all amongst the richest eight people in the United States, with fortunes of between $400 and $700 million each.

In 1927, Sarah was married to industrialist Alan Magee Scaife (1900–1958), president and chair of the Scaife Company. The couple had two children:

• Cordelia Mellon Scaife (1928–2005),{{cite news |title=Obituary: Cordelia Scaife May / Reclusive Mellon heiress known for her generosity |url=http://www.post-gazette.com/news/obituaries/2005/01/27/Obituary-Cordelia-Scaife-May-Reclusive-Mellon-heiress-known-for-her-generosity/stories/200501270185 |accessdate=15 August 2019 |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |date=January 27, 2005 |language=en}} a reclusive philanthropist and founder of the Colcom Foundation.{{Cite news |last1=Kulish |first1=Nicholas |last2=McIntire |first2=Mike |date=2019-08-14 |title=Why an Heiress Spent Her Fortune Trying to Keep Immigrants Out |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/14/us/anti-immigration-cordelia-scaife-may.html |access-date=2023-05-30 |issn=0362-4331}} She was married for six months to Herbert Arthur May Jr. (1919–1969) before their divorce. In 1973 she married Allegheny County District Attorney Robert Duggan (1926–1974).{{cite news |title=Mrs. Cordelia S. May Is Wed To Pittsburgh District Attorney |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/11/07/archives/mrs-cordelia-s-may-is-wed-to-pittsburgh-district-attorney.html?module=inline |accessdate=15 August 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=7 November 1973}}
• Richard Mellon Scaife (1932–2014), billionaire owner–publisher of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and funder of conservative causes such as The Heritage Foundation, mostly through the vehicle of private foundations that he controlled such as the Sarah Scaife Foundation.{{cite news |date=4 July 2014 |title=Billionaire Conservative Activist Richard Mellon Scaife Dies at 82 |url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-richard-mellon-scaife-dires-20140704-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |agency=Associated Press |access-date=3 February 2018}}

Sarah Mellon Scaife drank alcohol heavily, as did her adult children. Her husband died in 1958,{{cite news |title=ALAN M. SCAIFE, 58, INDUSTRIALIST; Chairman of Steel Concern in Pittsburgh Is Dead -- Mellon Family Associate |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1958/07/25/82212129.pdf |accessdate=15 August 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=25 July 1958}} and she died at West Penn Hospital on December 28, 1965. After a funeral at the East Liberty Presbyterian Church (built with funds from her family), she was buried at Allegheny Cemetery in Pittsburgh.{{cite news |title=MRS. ALAN SCAIFE, ART PATRON, DIES; Member of Mellon Family-Aided Museums, Schools |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1965/12/29/95921824.pdf |accessdate=15 August 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=29 December 1965}}

After her death, her collection of furniture and art was sold by Parke-Bernet in New York. Her jewelry was sold by William J. Fischer.{{cite news |title=Sarah Mellon Scaife Collection Will Be Sold by Parke-Bernet; Bronze Figure by Tatti |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1966/09/25/89647245.pdf |accessdate=15 August 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=25 September 1966}}

During her lifetime, Sarah Mellon Scaife donated tens of millions of dollars to a variety of humanitarian causes and the arts, including family planning, hospitals, disability and poverty issues, environmental conservation, and museums in the Pittsburgh region. Perhaps her most impactful gift was $35,000 to equip a virus research lab at the University of Pittsburgh during the late 1940s. Jonas Salk developed the polio vaccine in that lab in 1955.{{Cite news |last=Chinoy |first=Robert G. Kaiser; Ira |date=1999-05-02 |title=How Scaife's Money Powered a Movement |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1999/05/02/how-scaifes-money-powered-a-movement/a7e2f9bf-2b5c-4efa-92fd-eb30431fcaa1/ |access-date=2023-05-30 |issn=0190-8286}}

In 1974, the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh opened the Sarah Scaife Gallery, named in her honor following a major donation from the Sarah Scaife Foundation. Constructed at a cost of $12.5 million, the gallery more than doubled the exhibition space of the Museum of Art. Before her death, Scaife had collaborated with the museum to purchase a number of major works (especially Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art by Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, and other masters) for the museum's collection. Her son, Richard Mellon Scaife, chaired the museum's fine arts committee during the 1970s.{{Cite news |last=Nemy |first=Enid |date=1974-10-27 |title=Pittsburgh's Scaife Gallery Opens With Ooh's, Aah's and Champagne |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/10/27/archives/pittsburghs-scaife-gallery-opens-with-oohs-aahs-and-champagne-gift.html |access-date=2023-05-30 |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite journal |last=Wilson |first=Ellen S. |date=July–August 2003 |title=The Continuing History of the Scaife Galleries |url=https://carnegiemuseums.org/magazine-archive/2003/julaug/feature2.html |journal=Carnegie Online |access-date=2023-05-30}}

After Scaife's death, her son shifted the Scaife Foundations' giving away from the art world toward conservative and anti-immigration causes.{{Cite web |title=Sarah Scaife Foundation |url=https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/sarah-scaife-foundation/ |access-date=2023-05-30 |website=InfluenceWatch |language=en-US}}

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Category:1903 births

Category:1965 deaths

Category:Mellon family

Category:People from Pittsburgh

Category:Pennsylvania Republicans

Category:Presbyterians from Pennsylvania

Category:American people of Scotch-Irish descent

Category:Burials at Allegheny Cemetery

Category:Philanthropists from Pennsylvania