Philanthropist Mary Parker dies at 108. Her gifts enriched life in Bradenton
During her long life, Mary E. Parker helped an incalculable number of Bradenton and Manatee County residents through millions of dollars of philanthropy, usually gifted anonymously.
Ms. Parker died quietly in her sleep on March 30, 2020, at home in Bradenton. She was 108.
“Mary’s philanthropy has become a lifeline to many local nonprofit organizations that have benefited from her incredible generosity year after year. Many people in need will never know that their lives were made better because of Mary, but that is just the way she wanted it,” Susie Bowie, executive director of the Manatee Community Foundation, said in an email.
Ms. Parker graduated from nursing school in New York City and was the adopted daughter of Lillian Huntington Bishop and Edward Everson Bishop. The Bishops had made a fortune by providing the barrels used by oil magnate John D. Rockefeller to ship his oil. The Bishops left a legacy of shaping much of the Bradenton area through their philanthropic contributions to community organizations.
After the Bishops died, Ms. Parker continued their philanthropy and took an active interest in ensuring the enrichment of the community through decades of support for the original Manatee Memorial Hospital, The Bishop Museum of Science and Nature, Manatee Performing Arts Center, State College of Florida, Manatee Community Foundation, Turning Points, Bishop Animal Shelter, Southeastern Guide Dogs Inc., and many others.
“They were so generous with the community. They lived very quietly,” Bob Blalock, attorney and advisor to Mary Parker, said of the family’s decades-long tradition of making meaningful gifts to the Bradenton community.
“She was the sweetest, kindest person I ever knew. Very few people in the world are like her. She did virtually everything anonymously. She was just a wonderful human being,” Blalock said, adding that two years ago, Ms. Parker gave grants to 77 different community organizations.
One year ago, the South Florida Museum announced it was changing its name and identity to the Bishop Museum of Science and Nature.
“We are taking the Bishop name and putting it all under one umbrella,” museum CEO Brynne Anne Besio said last year. “The Bishop family were philanthropists in town and have maintained a crucial relationship with the museum in all of these 70 years.”
The aquarium at the museum was built in 1993 and is named after Mary Parker. In the past decade, Ms. Parker’s foundation has provided the museum with more than $5 million.
“How proud we are to have her name on the aquarium,” Besio said Monday. “She was a very sweet, very kind woman.”
Cassandra Holmes, executive director of the State College of Florida Foundation, said that Ms. Parker’s support was vital to SCF’s nursing program and acquiring its high fidelity simulators.
That support has helped SCF graduate highly skilled nurses and save many lives in the region, Holmes said.
Her support reflected Ms. Parker’s own background as a nurse and her commitment to having the best prepared nurses, Holmes said. “Our nurses are among the highest scoring in the state.”
Ms. Parker was also a major benefactor of the SCF’s new 70,000-square-foot library and learning center, she said.
Ms. Parker also sought out and supported many organizations around the country providing animal welfare, supporting vulnerable people, nursing education, medical research, and the arts, to name a few, according to the obituary published by Griffith-Cline Funeral and Cremation Services .
Ms. Parker was born Feb. 26, 1912. She is survived by her nieces Beverly Parker and Marion Holt, and her nephews David and Paul Tindal.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a memorial service will be scheduled for a future date. Check the Griffith-Cline website for updated information as the pandemic abates.
This story was originally published April 7, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Philanthropist Mary Parker dies at 108. Her gifts enriched life in Bradenton."