Mildred Robbins Leet, Pioneer in Global Microfinance

Age at death: 88

Major philanthropy job: Ms. Leet (pictured, second from right) served more than 20 years as the first chief executive of Trickle Up, an international antipoverty charity, in New York. She continued as chair of the group’s governing board until 2006 and as chair emerita until her death this month.

Other nonprofit roles: Ms. Leet worked and volunteered at dozens of organizations, including the U.S. Committee for the United Nations Development Fund for Women, which she helped found.

How she made her mark: Ms. Leet and her late husband, Glen F. Leet, a former president of the Save the Children Federation, started Trickle Up in 1979 as an alternative to conventional approaches to fighting poverty overseas, which relied on large-scale aid programs to “trickle down” benefits to the needy. Trickle Up was among the first U.S. organizations to offer small grants—of $100 to $225—to help poor people, chiefly women, start their own businesses. According to the charity, it has helped more than 200,000 entrepreneurs in dozens of countries.

Her front-row seat to history: Active in women’s rights and civil rights, Ms. Leet stood on the speaker’s platform during Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963. In 1989 she was chosen, along with Mother Teresa, to receive the Women of the World Award, presented by Princess Diana.

How she will be remembered: William M. Abrams, Trickle Up’s president, said in an e-mail message to The Chronicle that Ms. Leet “was both idealist and realist, always able to find a way to turn her dreams into action.”