Lila Bell Wallace (December 25, 1889 – May 8, 1984) was the first woman
Readers’ Digest Co-founder in 1922.Queer Places:
High Winds Estate
Mount Kisco, Westchester County, New York, USA
Lila Bell Wallace (December 25, 1889 – May 8, 1984) was the first woman
Readers’ Digest Co-founder in 1922.
She was an American magazine publisher and philanthropist. Wallace co-founded Reader's Digest with her husband Dewitt Wallace, publishing the first issue in 1922.
Born as Lila Bell Acheson in Virden, Manitoba, Canada,[1] her father was a Presbyterian minister who brought his family to the United States when she was a child, and she grew up in Park River, North Dakota. In 1917, she graduated from the University of Oregon, located in Eugene, Oregon, taught at schools for two years, and then worked for the Young Women's Christian Association. She also studied at Ward–Belmont College in Nashville, Tennessee.[2]
In 1921, she married DeWitt Wallace in Pleasantville, New York.[3] The couple co-founded the Reader's Digest magazine, with the first publication in 1922.[3] For many years, Reader's Digest was the best-selling consumer magazine in the United States. In her lifetime, she made philanthropic contributions estimated at $60 million.
She died from heart failure, age 94, in Mount Kisco, New York.[4] The Lila Wallace Reader's Digest Writers Award was given in her memory from 1990 to 2000.[5] In 1966, Wallace received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.[6] On January 28, 1972, she was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Richard Nixon.[7] In 1992, she was posthumously awarded the National Medal of Arts.[8]
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