Lucille Stewart Beeson took literally the Bible’s words about the Lord loving a cheerful giver. The Birmingham philanthropist, who died at 95 Jan. 8, supported a variety of educational and cultural causes.
“I never knew her to make a gift reluctantly — it was always in the spirit of good cheer, knowing it would make a difference in the lives of individuals,” said Samford University President Thomas E. Corts.
Samford was one of the primary beneficiaries of Beeson’s generosity. She donated money to build the Dwight and Lucille Beeson Center for the Healing Arts — home of Samford’s Ida V. Moffett School of Nursing — in the late 1980s. She provided for the first fully endowed professorship at Samford’s Cumberland School of Law in 1990. And she gave additional millions for the magnificent Lucille Stewart Beeson Law Library at Samford’s Cumberland School of Law.
Former President Gerald R. Ford delivered the dedicatory address for the Law Library in 1996. At the time, Beeson — a graduate of the Atlanta Law School — was recognized “for her trailblazing efforts as a lawyer, as well as her benevolent spirit” by Corts.
Beeson and her husband, Dwight, provided funds toward the Dwight M. Beeson School of Business Building at Samford in the late 1960s. He died in 1985.
Beeson also supported such causes as the Baptist Hospitals Foundation and the Birmingham Museum of Art. Beginning in 1947, the Beesons assembled one of the world’s greatest collections of Wedgwood pottery and porcelain. They donated it to the Birmingham Museum of Art in 1975, and Beeson provided funds to the Museum for a major addition to house the collection in 1990.
A native of South Pittsburg, Tenn., Beeson was one of the first women to earn a law degree from the Atlanta Law School.
She was a member of the Royal Society of Arts, London, the Advisory Board of the Ida V. Moffett School of Nursing, the Boards of The Birmingham Museum of Art and the Wedgwood International Seminar, Canterbury Methodist Church and Mountain Brook Garden Club.
Funeral services for Lucille Beeson were held Jan. 11 and Samford held a memorial service for her Jan. 12. (SU)
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