Cordelia Scaife May

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cordelia Scaife May (September 24, 1928–January 26, 2005) known as "Cordy" to her family and friends, was a reclusive Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-area philanthropist and one of the wealthiest women in the United States.

She was the only daughter of Alan Magee Scaife and Sarah Cordelia Mellon Scaife, daughter of Richard B. Mellon and niece of Andrew W. Mellon. She was raised with her brother Richard Mellon Scaife at the family estate in Ligonier and prepared at the Foxcroft School. She attended the Carnegie Institute of Technology and the University of Pittsburgh briefly, but left school to marry department store magnate Herbert A. May Jr. on June 30, 1949.

The couple divorced after scarcely a year, and she resumed a childhood friendship with Allegheny County District Attorney Robert W. Duggan, which blossomed into a romantic relationship. They secretly wed on August 29, 1973 amidst a federal investigation by then-United States Attorney Dick Thornburgh into allegations of racketeering and corruption on Duggan's part. On March 5, 1974, Duggan was found dead of shotgun wounds hours before being indicted by a federal grand jury on income tax evasion.

His death was ruled either an accident or suicide, although May maintained he was murdered for years afterward. Her brother's disapproval of their relationship led to a longtime estrangement.

When her mother, Sarah Scaife, died in 1965, Cordelia May inherited a sizable portion of the Mellon fortune. She would distribute tens of millions of dollars to charity through the Laurel Foundation (established 1951) and other foundations, most on the condition her name and the foundation's name not be revealed. She supported environmental conservation, population control, and museums in Western Pennsylvania.

She died of pancreatic cancer at her home in Ligonier Township, Pennsylvania at age 76 and was cremated.