Flora Lamson Hewlett (August 14, 1914 – February 9, 1977) was an American billionaire philanthropist.

Early life

Flora Lamson was born in 1914 and raised in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...

, and she summered in the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...

.Michael S. Malone
From a Generation that Keeps on Giving
, ''California Magazine'', January–February 2008 It was then that she met and became friends with Louise Hewlett, her future husband's sister, as both families had cabins in the Sierra. She received a Bachelor of Science in

Biochemistry Biochemistry, or biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology, a ...

from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

in 1935. After graduation, she joined the

Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an American environmental organization with chapters in all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded in 1892, in San Francisco, by preservationist John Muir. A product of the Pro ...

and reconnected with her friend Louise, who reintroduced her to her future husband,

Bill Hewlett William Redington Hewlett ( ; May 20, 1913 – January 12, 2001) was an American engineer and the co-founder, with David Packard, of the Hewlett-Packard, Hewlett-Packard Company (HP). Early life and education Hewlett was born in Ann Arbor, Mic ...

, the co-founder of

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company. It was founded by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939 in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, California ...

Philanthropy

In 1966, she co-founded the

William and Flora Hewlett Foundation The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, commonly known as the Hewlett Foundation, is a private foundation, established by Hewlett-Packard cofounder William Redington Hewlett and his wife Flora Lamson Hewlett in 1966. The Hewlett Foundation a ...

with her husband. She sat on the Board of Trustees of

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

Palo Alto, California Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. Th ...

, and the

San Francisco Theological Seminary The San Francisco Theological Seminary (SFTS) is a seminary in San Anselmo, California with historic ties to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). SFTS became embedded in a new Graduate School of Theology of the Universi ...

, a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

seminary in

San Anselmo, California San Anselmo () is an incorporated town in Marin County, California, United States. San Anselmo is located west of San Rafael, at an elevation of . It is located about north of San Francisco. The town is bordered by San Rafael to the east, F ...

. She also served on the executive committee of the World Affairs Council of Northern California and on the Board of Directors of California Tomorrow, an environmental non-profit organization. The

Flora Lamson Hewlett Library The Flora Lamson Hewlett Library is the central library of the Graduate Theological Union. Located on the summit of the "Holy Hill" area of Berkeley, California, its collections comprise one of the largest collections of theological works in ...

, a collection of theological books serving the

Graduate Theological Union The Graduate Theological Union (GTU) is a consortium of eight private independent American Seminary, theological schools and eleven centers and affiliates. Seven of the theological schools are located in Berkeley, California. The GTU was founded ...

in Berkeley, California, is named in her honor. The Flora Family Foundation, created by her children, is also named in her honor. Its symbol is the blue

gentiana ''Gentiana'' () is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the gentian family (Gentianaceae), the tribe Gentianeae, and the monophyletic subtribe Gentianinae. With over 300 species, it is considered a large genus. Gentians are notable for their ...

, her favorite flower.

Personal life

In 1939, she married Bill Hewlett, the co-founder of

. They had five children and twelve grandchildren. She was an elder of the First Presbyterian Church in Palo Alto. She died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

on February 9, 1977.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hewlett, Flora 1914 births 1977 deaths People from Berkeley, California University of California, Berkeley alumni Stanford University people American Presbyterians Deaths from cancer in California 20th-century American philanthropists Hewlett Foundation