Flora Stone Mather
Flora Stone Mather (April 8, 1852 – January 19, 1909) was a prominent philanthropist and advocate supporting religious, social welfare, and educational institutions in Cleveland, Ohio. Her leadership and generosity, directed toward promoting the education of women, led to Western Reserve University's College for Women being renamed in 1931 as the Flora Stone Mather College for Women. Early life Flora Amelia Stone was born on April 8, 1852, in Cleveland, Ohio. Her father was Amasa Stone and her mother was Julia Gleason Stone. Amasa Stone was a wealthy banker and builder of railroads and bridges. She had two siblings, a brother, Adelbert Barnes Stone (1844–1865), a geology student at Yale University, who died while swimming in the Connecticut River, and a sister, Clara Stone Hay (1849–1914). Flora Stone graduated from the Cleveland Academy in 1875. In spite of her family's privileged position and interest in assuring her brother's elite college education, she did not attend college. There was not a value placed on post-secondary education for the two Stone daughters. In 1881 Flora married Samuel Livingston Mather, a wealthy businessman with shipping and mining interests in the Great Lakes region. The couple had four children: Samuel Livingston (1882), Amasa Stone