The Philanthropy 50 2009 Gift Profile: Virginia Bernthal Toulmin

Virginia Bernthal Toulmin: $20-million

Beneficiary: Dayton Foundation

Donor’s background: Mrs. Toulmin is a former nurse and businesswoman whose late husband, Harry A. Toulmin, Jr., was an international patent lawyer. Mr. Toulmin’s father was the lawyer who secured the Wright brothers’ patent for their ground-breaking “flying machine.”

Mrs. Toulmin pledged approximately $20-million to the Dayton Foundation, in Ohio, to endow a fund in the Toulmins’ name that will support local nonprofit groups. Mrs. Toulmin placed no restrictions on the donation, which the grant maker will receive upon her death.

Mrs. Toulmin now lives in Florida, but spent more than 40 years in Dayton.

“Harry and I had a very happy life together in Dayton,” she said in a news release. “He grew up in the region and made a very successful living here. We owe Dayton something in return.”

—Maria Di Mento

View more profiles of donors who gave the most in 2009.