Bettie (Fleischmann) Holmes (1873-1941)
Mrs "Bettie" Babette (Fleischmann) Holmes, of Cincinnati & New York
She was born in Cincinnati, one of the three children of the founder of the hugely successful Fleischmann Yeast Company. In 1892, she married the Danish-born Dr. Christian Rasmus Holmes and together they developed a reputation for their generous philanthropy - it was estimated that she gave away over $20-million in her lifetime to good causes. She was also a great patron of the arts and "passionately devoted to music". In Cincinnati, she succeeded Mrs William Howard Taft as President of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and with her husband they developed modern hospital systems, established the chair for the University of Cincinnati's medical deanship, and founded the Cincinnati General Hospital before building the Christian R. Holmes Hospital.
After moving to New York in 1927, she established the Holmes Foundation to continue her husband's work in bettering hospitals. She also became a director of the New York Philharmonic Symphony Society and kept a box at and was a board member of the Metropolitan Opera Guild. She was vice-Chairman of the New York Stadium Concerts and a board member of the Musician's Emergency Fund. She was equally passionate in her fight against Prohibition (a large part of her fortune came from the gin that her family produced from the by-product of yeast) and was Chairman of the Women's Organization for National Prohibition Reform before the 18th Amendment was repealed in 1933.
Among the many and varied organizations in which she was active were: the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Metropolitan Opera Association; Traveller's Aid Society; Emergency Unemployment Relief Committee; American Woman's Association of the Fine Arts Department at New York University; New York Horticultural Society; Iranian Institute; Archeological Institute of America; National Institute of Social Sciences; New York Botanical Gardens; American Museum of Natural History; Federated Garden Clubs of New York State; Museum of Modern Art; and Museum of the City of New York.
Over a period of 20-years she was said to have assembled, "one of the finest collections of early Chinese bronzes, archaic jades, and Chinese porcelains" in the country. After her death the greater part was auctioned off and much of it was absorbed into the Avery Brundage Collection at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. After her father died in 1897 she inherited his home in Cincinnati where she lived with her husband and their three sons. After losing her husband in 1920 and then her mother just four years later, she relocated to New York to be close to the remaining members of her family, living between her apartment at 1107 Fifth Avenue and The Chimneys on Long Island where she died. She is the great-great-grandmother of Elizabeth Holmes, disgraced former CEO of Theranos.
After moving to New York in 1927, she established the Holmes Foundation to continue her husband's work in bettering hospitals. She also became a director of the New York Philharmonic Symphony Society and kept a box at and was a board member of the Metropolitan Opera Guild. She was vice-Chairman of the New York Stadium Concerts and a board member of the Musician's Emergency Fund. She was equally passionate in her fight against Prohibition (a large part of her fortune came from the gin that her family produced from the by-product of yeast) and was Chairman of the Women's Organization for National Prohibition Reform before the 18th Amendment was repealed in 1933.
Among the many and varied organizations in which she was active were: the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Metropolitan Opera Association; Traveller's Aid Society; Emergency Unemployment Relief Committee; American Woman's Association of the Fine Arts Department at New York University; New York Horticultural Society; Iranian Institute; Archeological Institute of America; National Institute of Social Sciences; New York Botanical Gardens; American Museum of Natural History; Federated Garden Clubs of New York State; Museum of Modern Art; and Museum of the City of New York.
Over a period of 20-years she was said to have assembled, "one of the finest collections of early Chinese bronzes, archaic jades, and Chinese porcelains" in the country. After her death the greater part was auctioned off and much of it was absorbed into the Avery Brundage Collection at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. After her father died in 1897 she inherited his home in Cincinnati where she lived with her husband and their three sons. After losing her husband in 1920 and then her mother just four years later, she relocated to New York to be close to the remaining members of her family, living between her apartment at 1107 Fifth Avenue and The Chimneys on Long Island where she died. She is the great-great-grandmother of Elizabeth Holmes, disgraced former CEO of Theranos.
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Contributed by Mark Meredith on 03/11/2022 and last updated on 07/11/2022.
Image Courtesy of the Smithsonian as interpreted by their Terms of Use.