Jean R. Yawkey

{{short description|American philanthropist and Major League Baseball owner (1909–1992)}} {{Infobox person |name = Jean R. Yawkey |image = Jean_R._Yawkey.jpg |image_size = |alt = |caption = |birth_date = {{Birth date|1909|1|24}} |birth_place = Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |death_date = {{Death date and age|1992|2|26|1909|1|24}} |death_place = Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |occupation = Owner of the Boston Red Sox ({{mlby|1976}}–{{mlby|1992}}) |awards = Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame (1995) |spouse = Tom Yawkey }}

'''Jean Remington Yawkey''' (January 24, 1909 – February 26, 1992) was the wife of Tom Yawkey and owner of the Boston Red Sox from 1976 to her death in 1992.

==Biography== Jean Yawkey was born Jean Hollander in Brooklyn, New York. She grew up in Freeport, Long Island, and was a New York City fashion model for ten years. In December 1944, she married Tom Yawkey in Georgetown, South Carolina;<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59801581/thomas-a-yawkey-weds/ |title=Thomas A. Yawkey Weds |agency=AP |newspaper=Kansas City Times |page=8 |date=December 25, 1944 |access-date=September 22, 2020 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref> both had previous marriages that ended in divorce.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59739562/untitled/ |title=The Luckiest Man in Baseball |first=Meg |last=Vaillancourt |newspaper=The Boston Globe Magazine |page=23 |publisher=The Boston Globe |date=August 5, 2001 |access-date=September 21, 2020 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref> During World War II, she was active with the Red Cross.<ref>{{cite web |title=Jean Yawkey - Yawkey Foundation |url=https://yawkeyfoundation.org/who-we-are/jean-r-yawkey/ |website=Yawkey Foundation |access-date=7 May 2025}}</ref>

Tom Yawkey purchased the Boston Red Sox in 1933 and following his death in 1976, Jean Yawkey was chairwoman of the board of directors of the JRY Corporation, the majority owner and general partner of the Red Sox, until her death.

In 1983, Jean Yawkey became a director of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, holding the distinction of being the first woman elected to the board.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59801865/yawkey-voted-first-woman-on-hall-board/ |title=Yawkey voted first woman on Hall board |first=Larry |last=Whiteside |newspaper=The Boston Globe |page=27 |date=August 1, 1983 |access-date=September 22, 2020 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref>

In 1992, Jean Yawkey died in Boston at age 83.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59797183/red-sox-owner-jean-yawkey-dies-at-83/ |title=Red Sox owner Jean Yawkey dies at 83 |first=Michael |last=Bezdek |agency=AP |newspaper=The Berkshire Eagle |location=Pittsfield, Massachusetts |page=19 |date=February 27, 1992 |access-date=September 22, 2020 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref> In total, the Yawkeys owned (solely, or with partners) and operated the team for 59 years. Jean Yawkey was inducted to the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame in 1995.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59803347/red-sox-enshrine-11-in-hall/ |title=Red Sox enshrine 11 in Hall |agency=AP |newspaper=North Adams Transcript |location=North Adams, Massachusetts |page=14 |date=November 2, 1995 |access-date=September 22, 2020 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref>

===Philanthropy=== {{Multiple image | header = Philanthropy | align = right | direction = | total_width = 200 | perrow = 1/1 | image1= Jean Yawkey Center - Emmanuel College, Massachusetts - DSC09832.JPG | caption1 = Jean Yawkey Center at Emmanuel College | image2= Yawkey Center at Massachusetts General Hospital.jpg | caption2 = Yawkey Center at Massachusetts General Hospital }} Jean Yawkey had a long association with the Jimmy Fund/Dana–Farber Cancer Institute as a trustee and for a period as chair. She was a supporter of the Tara Hall Home for Boys in South Carolina.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59804064/40-years-of-helping/ |title=40 Years of Helping |first=Gina |last=Vasselli |page=C7 |newspaper=The Sun News |location=Myrtle Beach, South Carolina |date=September 23, 2010 |access-date=September 22, 2020 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref> She was instrumental in the establishment of the Yawkey Family Inn in Brookline, Massachusetts, a temporary home for families of patients undergoing transplant surgery in Boston-area hospitals.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://giving.childrenshospital.org/get-involved/volunteer/yawkey-family-inn.html |title=Yawkey Family Inn |website=childrenshospital.org |access-date=September 22, 2020}}</ref> She was also a trustee of the Yawkey Foundation. ====Yawkey Foundation==== The Yawkey Foundation has given over $575 million in grants to organizations in the areas of health care, education, athletics, the arts, and wildlife conservation.<ref name="YF1">{{cite web |title=About Us |url=https://yawkeyfoundation.org/who-we-are/about/ |website=Yawkey Foundation |publisher=Yawkey Foundation |access-date=21 December 2024}}</ref> The foundation established scholarship funds at Yale University, Boston College, and Boston College High School. She was a supporter of the Jackie Robinson Scholarship Program and supported several other educational institutions to provide minority students and others with scholarship aid.

In 2002, the Yawkey Foundation provided a $25 million grant for the construction of an outpatient center at Massachusetts General Hospital, where she had been a patient, and where she died in 1992.<ref name="YF2">{{cite web |title=Health Care Origin Story |url=https://yawkeyfoundation.org/giving/health-care/origin-story/ |website=Yawkey Foundation |publisher=Yawkey Foundation |access-date=21 December 2024|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20241221003218/https://yawkeyfoundation.org/giving/health-care/origin-story/|archivedate=21 December 2024}}</ref> In 2003, the Yawkey Foundation awarded $5 million to Emmanuel College in Boston for construction of the Jean Yawkey Center,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59800042/nice-neighbors/ |title=Nice Neighbors |newspaper=The Boston Globe |page=34 |date=April 30, 2003 |access-date=September 22, 2020 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref> a student center, dining hall, gym and fitness center.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.emmanuel.edu/discover-emmanuel/campus/jean-yawkey-center.html |title=Jean Yawkey Center |website=emmanuel.edu |access-date=September 22, 2020}}</ref>

===Boston Red Sox=== The team's most successful season during Jean Yawkey's ownership came in 1986, when the Red Sox reached the World Series, losing in seven games to the New York Mets.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wilbur |first=Eric |title=Marty Barrett and the disappearance of baseball's hidden-ball trick |url=https://www.boston.com/sports/boston-red-sox/2016/06/26/marty-barrett-hidden-ball-trick/ |access-date=2024-12-05 |website=www.boston.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:left" |- ! Ownership: | July 9, 1976 – February 26, 1992  with Buddy LeRoux: September 30, 1977 – March 31, 1987  with Haywood Sullivan: September 30, 1977 – February 26, 1992 |- ! Predecessor: | Tom Yawkey |- ! Successor: | JRY Trust |- ! Titles: | AL East: 1986, 1988, 1990 AL Pennant: 1986 |- ! General manager(s): | Dick O'Connell (1976–1977) Haywood Sullivan (1977–1984) Lou Gorman (1984–1992) |- ! Manager(s): | Don Zimmer (1976–1980) Johnny Pesky (1980) Ralph Houk (1981–1984) John McNamara (1985–1988) Joe Morgan (1988–1991) Butch Hobson (1991–1992) |}

== References == {{reflist|30em}}

== Further reading == * {{cite book |title=Tom Yawkey: Patriarch of the Boston Red Sox |first=Bill |last=Nowlin |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |date=2018 |isbn=978-0803296831 }} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20100706094915/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,775353,00.html "Milestones, Jan. 8, 1945: Married. Thomas Austin Yawkey"], ''Time magazine'', Monday, Jan. 08, 1945 *{{cite web |url=https://sabr.org/bioproj/topic/boston-red-sox-team-ownership-history/ |title=Boston Red Sox team ownership history |first1=Mark |last1=Armour |first2=Daniel R. |last2=Levitt |website=SABR |date=December 13, 2017 |access-date=September 22, 2020}}

==External links== *[http://www.yawkeyfoundation.org/ Yawkey Foundations web site]

{{s-start}} {{s-sports}} {{succession box | before=Tom Yawkey | title=Owner of the Boston Red Sox | years=July 9, 1976 – February 26, 1992 (with Haywood Sullivan, September 30, 1977 – February 26, 1992) (with Buddy LeRoux, September 30, 1977 – March 31, 1987) | after= JRY Trust}} {{Succession box | before=Tom Yawkey | title=Boston Red Sox President | years=1976–1987 | after=John Harrington}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yawkey, Jean R.}} Category:1909 births Category:1992 deaths Category:Boston Red Sox executives Category:Boston Red Sox owners Category:Major League Baseball owners Category:Major League Baseball team presidents Category:People from Brooklyn  Category:People from Freeport, New York  Category:Women sports owners Category:20th-century American people