Cordelia Scaife May (September 24, 1928 – January 26, 2005) was a

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

-area political donor and philanthropist. An heiress to the Mellon-Scaife family fortune, she was one of the wealthiest women in the United States. Her philanthropy and political causes included

environmentalism Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of green ideology and politics, ecolog ...

, birth control and

family planning Family planning is the consideration of the number of children a person wishes to have, including the choice to have no children, and the age at which they wish to have them. Things that may play a role on family planning decisions include marit ...

;

overpopulation Overpopulation or overabundance is a state in which the population of a species is larger than the carrying capacity of its environment. This may be caused by increased birth rates, lowered mortality rates, reduced predation or large scale migr ...

control measures, making English the official language of the United States, and strict immigration restrictions to the United States. According to ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', "she bankrolled the founding and operation of the nation’s three largest restrictionist groups—the

Federation for American Immigration Reform The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is a nonprofit, anti-immigration organization in the United States. The group publishes position papers, organizes events, and runs campaigns in order to advocate for changes in U.S. immigr ...

NumbersUSA NumbersUSA is an anti-immigration Center for Immigration Studies The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) is an American anti-immigration think tank. It favors far lower immigration numbers and produces analyses to further those views. The CIS was founded by historian Otis L. Graham alongside eugenicist a ...

," and she left the bulk of her assets to the

Colcom Foundation Colcom Foundation is an anti-immigration private foundation established in 1996 by Cordelia Scaife May, a Mellon family heiress. It is a major funding source for the anti-immigration movement in the United States, supporting several organizations ...

, whose major activity has been the sponsorship of immigration restriction. May lived a reclusive life, especially after the death of her second husband in 1974.

Biography

Early life and education

On September 24, 1928, May was born as Cordelia Mellon Scaife in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. May's father was Alan Magee Scaife, and her mother was Sarah Cordelia Mellon Scaife. May's maternal grandfather was Richard B. Mellon. May is the grandniece of

Andrew W. Mellon Andrew William Mellon (; March 24, 1855 – August 26, 1937), known also as A. W. Mellon, was an American banker, businessman, industrialist, philanthropist, art collector, and politician. The son of Mellon family patriarch Thomas Mellon ...

. May and her brother

Richard Mellon Scaife Richard Mellon Scaife (; July 3, 1932 – July 4, 2014) was an American billionaire, a principal heir to the Mellon family, Mellon banking, oil, and aluminum fortune, and the owner and publisher of the ''Pittsburgh Tribune-Review''. In 2005 ...

grew up at the family estate in

Ligonier, Pennsylvania Ligonier is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,513 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Ligonier was settled in the 1760s. The borough is well known for nearby Idl ...

. May attended

Foxcroft School Foxcroft School, founded in 1914 by Charlotte Haxall Noland, is a college-preparatory boarding and day school for girls in grades 9-12 & PG, located near Middleburg, Virginia, United States. In its century of existence, Foxcroft has educat ...

, a boarding school for girls. According to May, her childhood was largely unhappy; her "eccentric" mother Sarah was "...just a gutter drunk..." who let nannies do the work in raising her. May attended Carnegie Institute of Technology, now known as

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...

, and the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

briefly, but left school to get married.

Personal life

On June 30, 1949, Cordelia Scaife married Herbert A. May Jr. The marriage lasted only a few months; they soon divorced. After May's divorce, she resumed a childhood friendship with Robert Duggan. However, they were unable to be married for a long period of time, as both their families disapproved. To the wealthy and Protestant Mellons, Duggan was a lower-class Catholic beneath the family's stature; to Duggan's family, May was a divorcee ineligible for a Catholicism-sanctioned marriage. On August 29, 1973, Duggan and May secretly civilly married in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. Duggan was by then the

Allegheny County District Attorney The Allegheny County district attorney is the elected district attorney for Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The office is responsible for the prosecution of violations of Pennsylvania commonwealth laws (federal law violations are pr ...

of Pennsylvania. The marriage was kept secret at first, but eventually leaked to the press. Duggan was under federal investigation by United States Attorney

Dick Thornburgh Richard Lewis Thornburgh (July 16, 1932 – December 31, 2020) was an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 76th United States attorney general from 1988 to 1991 under presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. A ...

for allegations of racketeering and corruption. On March 5, 1974, he was found dead of gunshot wounds hours before being indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of income tax evasion. His death was ruled a likely suicide but May maintained that he was murdered. The incident resulted in May falling out with her brother Richard, and by extension the family advisors that were shared between her and the family, as she came to the belief that her brother was somehow responsible for the death. Afterward, May lived reclusively, corresponding mostly by mail with new friends such as the activist

John Tanton John Hamilton Tanton (February 23, 1934 – July 16, 2019) was an American ophthalmologist, white nationalist, and anti-immigration activist. He was the founder and first chairman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), an anti- ...

Death

On January 26, 2005, May died at her home, Cold Comfort Farm, in

Ligonier Township, Pennsylvania Ligonier Township is a township in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. Ligonier Township entirely surrounds, but does not include, Ligonier Borough, which is a separate municipality. The township's population was 6,058 at the 2020 ...

at age 76, and was cremated. The cause of death was suicide by asphyxiation after a struggle with

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of ...

. She was survived by her estranged brother Richard, with whom she had partially reconciled in 1999.

Political and philanthropic donations

May made charitable donations to land conservation, watershed protection, environmental education, and population causes.Pro, Johnna A. and Pitz, Marylynne, "Obituary: Cordelia Scaife May"
, ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', January 27, 2005. When her mother died in 1965, May inherited a sizable portion of the Mellon fortune. She would distribute tens of millions of dollars to charity through the

Laurel Foundation The Mellon family foundations are a group of charitable foundations in the United States associated with the family of Thomas Mellon. The family is estimated to have a net worth of $14.1 billion as of 2024. Background The Mellon family is a wea ...

(established 1996), and directly, most on the condition her name be kept private. Most of the Colcom Foundation's donations go to anti-immigration causes. May was routinely listed on the Forbes list of the wealthiest Americans; in 2004, the year before her death, she had a net worth of $825 million and was #363 on Forbes' list of wealthiest Americans. In 1951, May established

, a private foundation based in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. In 1996, May established

. May served as the chairman of both foundations until her death in 2005. In the year 1972, May was the single largest contributor to candidates running for Congress. In 2005, the year of her death, May gave more to charity than any other individual in the United States. Her charitable donations for the year were almost one-tenth of the $4.3 billion donated by the nation's leading philanthropists.

Pittsburgh area initiatives

May's largesse helped fund a number of projects in the Pittsburgh area, including the Pittsburgh National Aviary, the

Montour Trail The Montour Trail is a multi-use recreational rail trail near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was formerly the Montour Railroad. It has a mostly crushed limestone with partially asphalt surface, appropriate for bicycling, walking, running, and cro ...

, the

Riverlife Task Force Riverlife (formerly known as Riverlife Task Force) is a nonprofit public-private partnership established in 2000 to guide and advocate for the redevelopment of the riverfronts of the City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Its most significant capital ...

, the

Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy was founded in December 1996 by a group of citizens concerned with the deteriorating conditions of Pittsburgh’s historic city parks. A non-profit organization, the Parks Conservancy works closely with the City of P ...

, and the Women's Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh.

Population control

May became aware of overpopulation issues in childhood, when she was introduced to the work of

Margaret Sanger Margaret Sanger ( Higgins; September 14, 1879September 6, 1966) was an American birth control activist, sex educator, writer, and nurse. She opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, founded Planned Parenthood, and was instr ...

by her grandmother. By 1952 she began to activel
address national population issues
There is a bust of

in the

National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: * National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra * National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London ...

which was a gift from May. By 1974, she had resigned from Planned Parenthood, based on her view that family planning was a waste of money in the presence of massive immigration.

Anti-immigration

May opposed immigration. She argued the United States was "being invaded on all fronts" by immigrants who "breed like hamsters" and exhaust America's resources. Her anti-immigration activism began in the 1970s. May's contributions, both directly and through her foundations, have principally funded anti-immigrant initiatives, including the

(FAIR), the

Center for Immigration Studies The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) is an American anti-immigration think tank. It favors far lower immigration numbers and produces analyses to further those views. The CIS was founded by historian Otis L. Graham alongside eugenicist a ...

, the American Immigration Control Foundation,

Californians for Population Stabilization Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS) is a non-profit California organization founded in 1986 which works to "preserve California's future through the stabilization of our state's human population". CAPS was the former Californian bran ...

, the California Center for Immigration Reform, and

Numbers USA NumbersUSA is an anti-immigration The Center for Immigration Studies is listed as a hate group by the

Southern Poverty Law Center The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white ...

. The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' reported that Scaife May was the single largest donor to anti-immigrant causes and "An ardent environmentalist more comfortable with books and birds than with high-society galas, May believed nature was under siege from runaway population growth. Before her death in 2005, she devoted much of her wealth to rolling back the tide--backing birth control and curbing immigration, both legal and illegal." The ''Times'' also wrote that May donated $200,000 to conservative columnist Samuel T. Francis, who called for a halt to all immigration and who opposes the mixing of the races. May also supported English-only movements, guided by

. Originally that was through the group

U.S. English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the most widely spoken language in the United States and, since 2025, the offici ...

, which successfully lobbied for an Arizona ballot proposition to conduct all state business in English. After Tanton was kicked out of the group for memos that endorsed

eugenics Eugenics is a set of largely discredited beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter the frequency of various human phenotypes by inhibiting the fer ...

and denounced a "Latin onslaught", Tanton founded a new group,

ProEnglish ProEnglish is an American nonprofit lobbying organization that is part of the English-only movement.Domenico MaceriMultilingualism: Americans are embracing Spanish ''International Herald Tribune'' (June 24, 2003). The group supports making English ...

. May was a prominent funder for ProEnglish, in keeping with Tanton. According to Roger Conner, the first chairman of FAIR, "John

anton Anton may refer to: People *Anton (given name), a list of people with the given name *Anton (surname), a list of people with the surname Places *Anton Municipality, Bulgaria **Anton, Sofia Province, a village *Antón District, Panama **Antón, ...

became the one who would carry her legacy forward the way a son or a daughter would... John assured her what she believed in her life would carry on. She also funded the republication and distribution of the dystopian novel ''

The Camp of the Saints ''The Camp of the Saints'' () is a 1973 French dystopian fiction novel by author and explorer Jean Raspail. A speculative fictional account, it depicts the destruction of Western civilization through Third World mass immigration to France and ...

'' in 1983, a novel popular among the

far right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and Nativism (politics), nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on ...

and widely described as racist by critics; the

has compared it to ''

The Turner Diaries ''The Turner Diaries'' is a 1978 novel by William Luther Pierce, the founder and chairman of National Alliance, an American white nationalist group, published under the pseudonym Andrew Macdonald. It was initially syndicated in the National All ...

''.