The New York Times - USA (2020-08-07)

THE NEW YORK TIMES OBITUARIESFRIDAY, AUGUST 7, 2020 N A25

Doris Buffett, a self-styled retail
philanthropist who once declared
that her billionaire younger
brother, Warren Buffett, “loves to
make money and I love to give it
away,” died on Tuesday at her
home in Rockport, Maine. She was
92.
Her death was confirmed by
her grandson Alexander Buffett
Rozek.
Ms. Buffett had been a benefac-
tor in her own right when her
brother, one of the world’s most
successful investors, announced
his intention in 2006 to donate
nearly his entire fortune before he
died, opening the gates to a flood
of supplicants. At the time his
worth was estimated at $44 bil-
lion.
While he ran Berkshire Hath-
away, the conglomerate that in-
cludes Dairy Queen, Duracell and
Geico, Mr. Buffett entrusted his
sister and a group of women she
had recruited to sift the requests
for financial help, assess their
merits and monitor the impact of
those that were granted.
In some cases they were sanc-
tioned to satisfy more modest re-
quests — for money to help pay for
dental work, legal bills in custody
cases, wheelchairs, automobile
repairs, electric bills and the like.
Ms. Buffett’s own Sunshine
Lady Foundation, which she
founded in 1996, and, more re-
cently, The Letters Foundation,
which she and her brother
founded, have focused tens of mil-
lions of dollars in large and small
donations on individuals and or-
ganizations committed to educat-
ing prison inmates, battered wom-
en and low-income teenagers, and
to improving the lives of the men-
tally ill while also easing the bur-
den on their caregivers.
Ms. Buffett shunned what she
called “the S.O.B.’s” — sym-
phonies, operas and ballets — as
recipients of largess and instead
concentrated on the underprivi-
leged, as she did with The Letters
Foundation.
“I rounded up a bunch of ladies,
and we started reading letters,”
she recalled. “Some of them were
nutty, but most of them were from
people who were genuinely des-
perate and just needed a little
help” — “decent people who just
didn’t have the breaks somebody

else did.”

The requests were vetted ini-

tially by an informal group of sev-

en or eight women she had

brought together in Maine. Their

stated goal was not so much to en-

able the beneficiaries as to em-

power them.

“I do consider these as invest-

ments rather than giveaways, and

I’m looking for a good return on

them,” Ms. Buffett said. “The best

return is when lives change for the

better in some way. That’s the

commanding thought behind all I

do.”

Warren Buffett recalled in an in-

terview that his sister, who was

three years his senior, was always

a “doer.”

“She would talk to every one of

these people; she didn’t just write

a check,” he said. “She was enor-

mously empathetic and did some-

thing about it.”

Doris Eleanor Buffett was born

on Feb. 12, 1928, in Omaha, Neb., a

descendant of a 17th-century

Long Island pickle farmer. She

represented the sixth generation

of her family to live in Nebraska’s

largest city and belonged to the

Daughters of the American Revo-

lution.

Her father, Howard H. Buffett,

was a stockbroker and four-term

Republican congressman. Her

mother was Leila (Stahl) Buffett,

whom Doris Buffett believed was

bipolar.

“If there was no fairy god-

mother for me, maybe I could be

one for others,” she told The Free

Lance-Star of Fredericksburg,

Va., in 2018.

Doris and her siblings were giv-

en intelligence tests when they

were children and, she later dis-

covered, she had scored only two

points below Warren. “He got a lot

out of those two points,” she said

of her brother.

After graduating from Wood-

row Wilson High School in Wash-

ington, she attended George

Washington University and later

earned her bachelor’s degree

from the University of Nebraska.

She married Truman Wood, in the

first of four marriages that would

end in divorce.

In addition to her brother War-

ren, Ms. Buffett is survived by

three children from her first mar-

riage, Robin, Marshall and Syd-

ney Wood; her sister, Bertie Buf-

fett Elliott; four grandchildren;

and two great-grandchildren.

Ms. Buffett started the Sun-

shine Lady Foundation in 1996 af-

ter inheriting a fortune in Berk-

shire Hathaway stock from her

mother, who died that year. Her

brother provided some $10 million

to review the thousands of letters

he had received soliciting small

contributions. She eventually con-

tributed more than $200 million of

her own.

She later left the foundation in a

dispute between the staff and the

family and, with her brother,

founded The Letters Foundation,

which has made more than 1,000

grants.

Ms. Buffett was the subject of

an authorized biography, “Giving

It All Away: The Doris Buffett

Story” (2010), by Michael Zitz. In

2018, she released “Letters to Dor-

is: One Woman’s Quest to Help

Those With Nowhere Else to

Turn.”

While she endured four di-

vorces and lost a fortune in the

1987 stock market crash, “Doris,

by no means, lives a spartan life,”

her brother wrote in the foreword

to “Giving It All Away.”

“But she does give away money

that, were it used personally,

would make her life easier,” he

added. “She is one of the rare well-

off individuals who reduces her

net worth annually by making

charitable contributions.”

Much of the money she gave

away went to her several home-

towns — Fredericksburg, Va.;

Wilmington and Beaufort, N.C.;

and Rockport.

Mr. Buffett said he had always

been confident that his sister

would choose wisely in deciding

whom to help among the letters

that he had forwarded to her.

“Some people write a large

number of checks,” he said. “Oth-

ers invest a large amount of time

and effort” in choosing their bene-

ficiaries. “Doris does both. She’s

smart about how she does it as

well, combining a soft heart with a

hard head.” (“If you created your

own problems, don’t bother to call

Doris,” he added.)

She, like him, wanted most of

her fortune to be spent on solving

problems in her lifetime.

“She really wanted her last

check to bounce,” Mr. Buffett said.

Doris Buffett, Who Helped Her Billionaire Brother Donate Money, Dies at 92

Doris Buffett and her younger brother, Warren, in 2016. “She is one of the rare well-off individuals

who reduces her net worth annually by making charitable contributions,” he said. She avoided do-

nating to symphonies, operas and ballets, however. At right, Ms. Buffett in an undated photo.

ALEX BUFFETT ROZEK

VIA ALEX BUFFETT ROZEK

Sifting through letters

from supplicants for

lives to invest in.

By SAM ROBERTS

NAIROBI, Kenya — Hawa
Abdi, a doctor and human rights
activist who safeguarded the lives
of tens of thousands of Somalis
during years of war, famine and
displacement, died on Wednesday
at her home in Mogadishu, the So-
mali capital. She was 73.
Her death was confirmed by
her daughter Dr. Deqo Mohamed,
who did not specify the cause.
Dr. Abdi rose to prominence in
the mid-1990s after the outbreak
of civil war, which caused exten-
sive damage to Somalia’s econ-
omy and infrastructure. At the
time, Dr. Abdi was running a small
clinic that she opened in 1983 on
her family’s land to assist women
in childbirth and to promote
health care for children.
But as the country disinte-
grated, Dr. Abdi turned the clinic
into a full-fledged hospital, a
school and a camp for internally
displaced persons. She rejected
the clan politics that had divided
communities and fueled the war,
adopting a philosophy of unity and
sheltering people from diverse
backgrounds.
When President George Bush
went to Somalia in early 1993 —
the only American leader ever to
visit the country — Dr. Abdi was
the first Somali he met there. Mr.
Bush, only weeks before leaving
office, had arrived to visit Ameri-

can troops and to inspect the in-

ternational relief effort that was

responding to the famine tearing

through this Horn of Africa nation.

Dr. Abdi gave the president a tour

of the camp and showed him how

hungry children, women and men

were receiving medical care and

food.

“We’re seeing recovery here,”

Mr. Bush said later. “Most of these

children told me they were lit-

erally starving two months ago.”

Over the years the compound

grew into a 400-bed facility host-

ing up to 90,000 people. Dr. Abdi

trained and hired dozens of doc-

tors and nurses and conducted

countless surgeries, delivered ba-

bies and removed bullets from

those wounded in the war. She

also established literacy classes

for women and an agricultural

project that helped former herd-

ers farm their own food. She came

to be known as Mama Hawa and

her camp as Hawa Abdi Village.

But in a country with barely any

health care infrastructure or gov-

ernment health care support, Dr.

Abdi had to deal with outbreaks of

diarrhea and tuberculosis as well

as the devastating toll of famines,

like one in 2011, brought on by

drought.

She also had to face off with mil-

itants. In May 2010, Islamist mili-

tants took over her hospital and

camp and pillaged documents and

medical equipment. They de-

manded that, given her age and

because she was a woman, she

hand over management of the

hospital to them.

“You are not allowed to shoul-

der any responsibility and author-

ity,” one of the militants told her,

according to her memoir, “Keep-

ing Hope Alive: How One Somali

Woman Changed 90,000 Lives.”

“That’s impossible,” Dr. Abdi

said she had replied. Even though

elders told her that the militants

could “shoot me at a moment’s no-

tice, I refused to back down.”

“ ‘So they’ll shoot me!’ I told the

elders,” she wrote. “ ‘At least I will

die with dignity.’ ”

After days of house arrest, the

militants not only released her but

also agreed to write her an apol-

ogy letter.

Hawa Abdi Dhiblawe was born

in Mogadishu on May 28, 1947. Her

father worked in the city’s port,

and her mother died when Hawa

was still young. After winning a

scholarship to the Soviet Union,

she studied medicine in Kyiv, in

what is now Ukraine, becoming

one of the first trained Somali gy-

necologists.

Dr. Abdi also completed a law

degree from the Somali National

University in Mogadishu.

In addition to Dr. Mohamed, she

is survived by another daughter,

Amina, who is also a doctor. Dr.

Abdi had a third daughter who

died at age 2 and a son who died at

23, Dr. Mohamed said.

In recent years, Dr. Abdi’s hu-

manitarian work attracted inter-

national attention. In 2010, she

and her daughters were listed

among Glamour magazine’s wom-

en of the year. The magazine de-

scribed Dr. Abdi as “equal parts

Mother Teresa and Rambo” and

called her and her daughters

“saints of Somalia.”

Dr. Abdi was nominated for the

Nobel Peace Prize in 2012 and

awarded an honorary doctorate

by Harvard in 2017, alongside the

Facebook founder Mark Zucker-

berg and the actors Judi Dench

and James Earl Jones.

Even as the civil war ebbed, Dr.

Abdi continued to provide care

and remained an adviser to the

hospital, said Dr. Mohamed, who

now runs it.

President Mohamed Abdullahi

Mohamed of Somalia said that Dr.

Abdi would be remembered for

the thousands of lives she had

helped during tumultuous times.

She “has a golden place in the

history of our nation,” he said in a

Facebook post, adding, “For a

long time, she took upon herself to

serve the vulnerable among us.”

Hawa Abdi, 73, Doctor Who Aided Thousands Over Years in Tumultuous Somalia

By ABDI LATIF DAHIR

Hussein Mohamed contributed re-
porting from Mogadishu, Somalia.

Dr. Hawa Abdi treating a patient at a displaced persons camp in Mogadishu, Somalia, in 2007. At right, a women’s education center.

Dr. Abdi established literacy classes for women and an agricultural project that helped former herders to farm their own food.

KUNI TAKAHASHI/GETTY IMAGES MOHAMMED IBRAHIM FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

She set up a hospital,

a school and a camp

for displaced people.

Brophy, Theodore

Hamill, Pete

Lederer, Bruno

Riley, Barbara Jo

Sekler, Marvin

Shelley, Tully

Shengold, Margaret

Shulimson, Victor

Sindel, Alan

BROPHY—Theodore

Frederick,

died peacefully on August 3,

2020. He is survived by his de-
      voted wife Sallie (Showalter),
      daughter Anne Brophy
      O'Grady(Standish),daugh-
      ter-in-law, Lisa, brother Jack
      (Martine), grandchildren
      Kristin (Travis), Erin (Brad),

Standish Theodore and Sin-

claire,aswellasgreat-

grandchildren, Parkerand

Brady. And all of his beloved

nieces and nephews. His son,

Stephen Frederick prede-

ceased him in June, 2019. He

was a loving husband, father,

grandfather, great -

grandfather and uncle. He

was born in New York City

and raised in Pelham, New

York.Hegraduatedfrom

Kent School, Yale University

and Harvard Law School. He

served as a lieutenant junior

officer in the US Navy aboard

the submarine USS Cabezon

in World War II and saw ac-

tion in the South Pacific. Fol-

lowing the war, Ted practiced

law in New York City before

becoming General Counsel at

GTE (now Verizon) where he

ultimately became Chairman

and CEO. Upon retiring, Pres-

ident Reagan accorded Ted

the personal rank of Ambas-

sador in his role as Chairman

of the U.S. delegation to a

worldwide conference in Ge-

neva for the purpose of allo-

cating satellite space for ra-

dio communications to more

than 150 countries. He spent

some months in Geneva on

this project. During his active

years, he lived in Greenwich,

CT and he was a member of

the Business Roundtable, the

Business Council, Round Hill

Club, Blind Brook Club and

chaired the United Way of

Tri-State among other com-

mitments.Healsoowned

homes in Manchester, VT,

Bermuda and Gulf Stream,

FL. He was a member of the

Gulf Stream Golf Club, The

Little Club, The Ocean Club of

Florida and Ekwanok Golf

Club.Hewasanaccom-

plished skier, rackets player,

swimmer,andenthusiastic

golfer. But Ted will be re-

membered for his grace and

humility, his love and concern

for others, his wise and com-

forting advice, great integri-

ty, compassion, faithful com-

mitment, his humor and ac-

ceptance of God's will during

his final handicapped years.

Private services will be held

in the future. Contributions

can be made in his memory

to the Theodore F. Brophy '41

Teaching Chair in Mathema-

ticsatKentSchool(Kent

School, PO Box 2006, Kent, CT

06757).

HAMILL—Pete.

Pete was a valued friend to

the Museum of the City of

New York as trustee

(1998-2009), advisor, contribu-

tor to exhibitions and book

projects, and celebrated

speaker, bringing wit, insight,

and passion to our mission as

NYC'sstoryteller.Hegra-

ciously accepted our Louis

Auchincloss Prize in 2010, re-

cognizing his work inspired

by our great city. We send

our deepest sympathies to his

wife, Fukiko, and family.

William C. Vrattos,

Chair,

Whitney W. Donhauser,

Ronay Menschel Director

LEDERER—Bruno.

April 22, 1930 - July 24, 2020.

Beloved husband of Vivian,

fathertoLaurence,step-

father to Joel, grandfather to

Justin, David and Olivia. Im-

migrant, veteran, lawyer at

Department of Justice and

NYSE. A good and kind man.

RILEY—Barbara Jo,

79, a former resident of Dor-

set, VT and New York,

passed away July 29, 2020 at

herhomeinWestStock-

bridge, MA.Barbara will

come home to rest in peace

in Vermont and a private bur-

ial will take place at Maple

Hill Cemetery in Dorset, with

a celebration of Barbara's life

to be announced at a later

date. Memorial gifts in Bar-

bara's memory may be given

to the Second Chance Animal

Shelter or the Animal Medi-

cal Center, or any of the cha-

ritable causes about which

she cared so deeply for, c/o

Brewster - Shea Funeral

Home, P.O. Box 885, Manch-

ester center, VT. To send the

family personal condolences,

please visit http://www.shea

funeralhomes.com.

SEKLER—Marvin.

The partners, counsel, asso-

ciates and staff of the firm of

Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton

& Garrison LLP express pro-

found sorrow at the death on

August 3 of Marvin Sekler,

beloved father of our friend

and Executive Director, Eric

J. Sekler. We express our

deepest sympathies to Eric,

his wife Debbie, their children

Joshua, Jessica and Justin,

Eric's mother Rochelle, Eric's

brother Mitchel and his wife

Maria, their children Alyssa

and Jordan, Eric's brother Al-

lan and his wife Sharyn, their

children Brandon, Ryan, Ja-

son and Sammy and to all

other members of the family.

SHELLEY—Tully, Jr.

100, died July 23, 2020. Senior

Partner at McKinsey & Com-

pany for 29 years supporting

the Firm's Manufacturing

Practice in New York and

London. Established the

company's Stamford Office.

In retirement, volunteered in

Costa Rica and Guatemala

with the International Execu-

tive Services Corp.

SHENGOLD—Margaret

Wheeler.

June 21, 1924, died peacefully

August 4, 2020. Beloved wi-

dow of Leonard, mother of

Larry, Laurie, Nina and Da-

vid,grandmotherofJeff,

Maya and Marc, sister of

George, aunt. She persisted.

SHULIMSON—Victor,

passed away peacefully at

age 90 on August 6, 2020 of na-

tural causes. A man of many

talents and interests, he was

always looking for a fresh

breeze, a straight tee shot,

and a good “discussion.” “The

best thing I ever did was to

go on that Habonim retreat

whereImetmybeloved

Shirley,” his wife of 71 years.

Israel and Zionism were a

major focus of his life. He

is survived by his children

Aharon (Julie), Avriel

(Martin), Adinah, and Yael

(Henry), grandchildren Rach-

el (Cesar), Jacob, Alana

(Nassif), Briana (Lee), Kris-

ten(Jim),Jason(Emily),

Emily (Brian), Dylan, Max,

and Sam, and his most preci-

ous great-grandchildren Shi-

loh, Juniper and Alice. His sis-

ter Mitzi and brother-in-law

Hillelweretheclosestof

friendsandthe“Montreal

Family” were always in

histhoughts.Hewill be

deeply missed.

SINDEL—Alan Nelson,

passed away August 2, 2020

at age 84 of natural causes.

He is survived by his beloved

wife of 59 years, Anita Lipson

Sindel, loving son, Bill Sindel

and daughter-in-law Siggi

Warnock Sindel, proud

and loving granddaughter

Jessica,anddearbrother

BrianSindel.Heleavesa

legacy of devotion and loyal-

ty to his entire family includ-

ing his nieces, Shari, Jane,

and Patricia. In lieu of

flowers, charitable contribu-

tions to your choice of worthy

causes is appreciated.

Deaths Deaths Deaths Deaths Deaths Deaths Deaths

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