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

Early life and education

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 Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and E ...

, and she summered in the Sierra Nevada.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 and ...

from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

in 1935. After graduation, she joined the Sierra Club and reconnected with her friend Louise, who reintroduced her to her 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 Company (HP). Early life and education Hewlett was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where his ...

, the co-founder of Hewlett-Packard.

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 awa ...

with her husband. She sat on the Board of Trustees of Stanford University in

Palo Alto, California Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. The city was es ...

, 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.). SFTS became embedded in a new Graduate School of Theology of the University of Redlands in 2019. It was ...

, a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

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 46 feet (14 m). It is located about north of San Francisco. The town is bordered by San Rafael ...

. 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 t ...

, a collection of theological books serving the Graduate Theological Union 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 about 400 species it is considered a large genus. They are notable for their most ...

, her favorite flower.

Personal life

In 1939, she married

, the co-founder of Hewlett-Packard. 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 abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

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