Rich in Good Works.  Mary M. Emery of Cincinnati – Art Collector and Philanthropist.
At the death of her husband, Thomas J, Emery Jr. in 1906, Mary Muhlenberg Emery became one of the richest women in the United States.  Recognizing her “vast responsibility” she embarked on a philanthropic program that endowed or initiated children’s programs, hospitals, medical institutions, orphanages, colleges, universities, an art museum, a zoological park, cultural agencies, and other causes that benefited humankind.   However, Mary Emery’s  most costly benefactions were directed to the founding of Mariemont, Ohio (a planned community near Cincinnati) and to the formation of a major art collection which she bequeathed to  the Cincinnati Art  Museum. Millard F. Rogers, Jr. (published by The University of Akron Press, 2001)