Anna Maria (Richardson) Harkness

Anna Maria (Richardson) Harkness (October 25, 1837–March 27, 1926) was an American philanthropist whose gifts supported healthcare, education and the arts. The widow of Standard Oil investor Stephen Vanderburgh Harkness, she established the Commonwealth Fund and funded memorials that carried her children’s names into the public life of Cleveland and Yale University.

From Ohio to Millionaires’ Row

Born in Dalton, Ohio, Anna was the daughter of James Richardson and Anna (née Ranck) Richardson. Little is known about her early life.

On February 13, 1854, at sixteen, she married the 34-year-old Stephen Vanderburgh Harkness. An early investor with John D. Rockefeller, Stephen would become Standard Oil’s second-largest shareholder before his death in 1888.

Stephen’s first wife, Laura Osborne, had died in August 1852. Of their three children, only Lamon V. Harkness was still living when Stephen married Anna. The couple made their home at his estate on Cleveland’s Euclid Avenue, known as Millionaires’ Row, and had four children of their own:

• Jennie A. Harkness (1856–1864), who died at the age of seven.

Charles W. Harkness

Charles William Harkness (December 17, 1860 – May 1, 1916) was the son of Stephen V.

• Florence Harkness (1864–1895), who married the widower Louis Henry Severance (1838–1913).

A Standard Oil Inheritance

Stephen died aboard his yacht on March 6, 1888, and was buried in Cleveland’s Lake View Cemetery. His estate was valued at $150 million—approximately $4.6 billion in 2024 dollars. Anna inherited one-third of his fortune, chiefly in Standard Oil stock.

In 1891, she moved to New York City, while continuing to maintain a home in Willoughby, Ohio. Her inherited wealth would support a long philanthropic career, with gifts ranging from hospital buildings to university residences.

Memorials to Her Children

Some of the family’s earliest gifts grew out of personal loss. After Jennie’s death in 1864, Anna and Stephen erected and furnished a memorial pavilion at Lakeside Hospital in Cleveland.

On July 29, 1895, Florence died within a year of her marriage to Louis Severance, a former treasurer of Standard Oil. Anna and her son-in-law provided funds for the Florence Harkness Memorial Chapel at what is now Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

Harkness Chapel at Case Western Reserve

Harkness Chapel at Case Western Reserve University was built in memory of Florence Harkness Florence Harkness was the daughter of Stephen V.

After Charles died in 1916, Anna gave Yale University $3 million—equivalent to $48 million in 2024—for the construction of Memorial Quadrangle in his memory. The gift included Harkness Tower, a prominent symbol of Yale on the New Haven skyline. Her portrait by Albert Herter is displayed in the dining hall of Saybrook College, part of the quadrangle.

In 1920, she gave Yale another $3 million, this time toward increases in faculty salaries.

Founding the Commonwealth Fund

In October 1918, Anna established the Commonwealth Fund with an initial gift of $10 million, equivalent to $138 million in 2024. The foundation was dedicated to improving healthcare. The fund is still fully operational today and operates out of the Edward Harkness House in New York

Harkness House, New York, NY

Photos and all details below courtesy of Tom Miller, Daytonian in Manhattan Note: I would like to recognize the late Paul Engel, formerly Curator and Director of Harkness House, who so graciously gave my wife and I a full tour of this beautiful home.

The fund and her son Edward together made charitable gifts totaling more than $129 million—the equivalent of $2 billion in 2005 dollars. Their support extended to the Harkness Fellowships, St. Salvator’s Hall at the University of St Andrews, Butler Library at Columbia University, and many undergraduate residences at Harvard and Yale, known respectively as houses and residential colleges.

The fund’s beneficiaries also included the Hampton and Tuskegee Institutes, the Museum of Natural History in New York, the New York Zoological Society, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, the New York Public Library and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The supplied account also credits the fund with establishing the Metropolitan Museum’s collection of ancient Egyptian art.

The Harkness Pavilion at NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital / Columbia University Medical Center likewise bears the family’s name.

Final Years and Legacy

Anna died on March 27, 1926, aged 88, at her home at 820 Fifth Avenue in New York City. After a private funeral, she was buried beside Stephen in Lake View Cemetery.

By her death, she had given away $40 million. Even so, her original $50 million inheritance had grown to nearly $85 million. In inflation-adjusted terms, the comparison was different: the latter sum represented approximately $1.2 billion in 2024 dollars, less than the roughly $1.5 billion equivalent of her inheritance.

Her legacy endured in the institutions she supported and in the Commonwealth Fund, which gave lasting form to her commitment to healthcare.

Sources and Further Reading