Edith S. McAllister – 1/15/11
An overview of her life in philanthropic service
by Ed Conroy
In 1977, the Association of Fundraising Professionals honored Edith S. McAllister as Philanthropist of the Year, in recognition of more than 15 years of dedicated service to the community. In the following 33 years, Mrs. McAllister (known to all affectionately as simply Edith) has surpassed the accomplishments of her early philanthropic career many times over as an outstanding leader in local and national organizations benefiting the arts, medicine, higher education, youth and our community’s economic development. A Founding Trustee of the Southwest School of Art, she served as its President from 1979 to 1982. She was also the first woman to serve as a Campaign Chair of United Way (1972) and served as Chairman of the San Antonio Area Foundation (1982 and 1982). She also has also served as President of the Cancer Therapy and Research Center, the San Antonio Museum Association, the Women’s Committee of the San Antonio Symphony and the San Antonio Art League. In all, Edith McAllister has been the chairman, president, co-chair or vice president of 25 major San Antonio non-profit organizations and their campaigns. She is currently a board member of 26 non-profit organizations, ranging from the Alamo Area Council of Boy Scouts to the San Antonio Medical Foundation. A member of the UT/Austin Commission of 125 and the UTSA Development Board, she regularly attends the meetings of the Conference of Southwest Foundations. She is undoubtedly our community’s volunteer fundraiser par excellence of the past three decades, raising very significant support for those institutions with which she has been most closely associated, and providing general fundraising leadership in many other organizations. Married to the late Walter McAllister Jr. she is the mother of four children, and now has seven grandchildren. Known for her physical vigor, at the age of 92 she still water skis each summer at her home in Port Aransas! Known also for the flowing red ink script in which she writes her fundraising letters, she concludes them all with her signature refrain: XOXO, Love, Edith.
Hosts,
Bjorn Dybdahl of Bjorn's
John Thurman of Heart of Texas Realty
Scott Woolfolk of Documation
Sponsors
