Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 5, 1993 TAG: 9301050269
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETH MACY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
MARION VIA, ROANOKE'S QUIET PHILANTHROPIST, DIES AT 75
Marion Bradley Via, the Roanoke heiress who donated millions to educational, social-services and arts institutions in the Roanoke Valley and Western Virginia, died Sunday. She was 75.The cause of Via's death was not confirmed. Friends said she suffered from a chronic cough caused by cigarette smoking and had recently had the flu.
Roanoke's most generous philanthropist - as well as its most anonymous and reclusive - Via "wanted to exit as quietly as she had lived," her attorney, John Rocovich, said. Rocovich said he was under strict orders from Via's family not to discuss her life or death with reporters.
Many Roanokers, though, were eager to praise Via's contributions to the valley, contributions to nearly all of the major arts institutions and many social-services organizations as well.
"It's hard to imagine what the Roanoke Valley would be like without all the wonderful things she made possible," said Alan Ronk, executive director of the Foundation for Roanoke Valley, an umbrella group that handles donations to non-profit organizations.
"She brought Roanoke so much quality that we would not have had were it not for Marion Via," said Barbara Landon, vice president of development for Blue Ridge Public Television, which for years received annual checks from Via.
Movie packages on public television, Tony Bennett's performance with the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, the Symphony Polo Cup, Opera Roanoke's "Porgy and Bess," the Roanoke Valley Horse Show, the $1.06 million Bradley Free Clinic - Via spent millions underwriting programs such as these.
"She touched so many lives, and yet she never wanted any attention or recognition for it," Landon said. "How do you say `thank you' to a person that generous? How do you tell her the difference she made?
"We were never able to say `thank you' enough."
Estelle Nichols, director of the Bradley Free Clinic, said the clinic is "an excellent example of her [Via's] compassion." The clinic drew first lady Barbara Bush to Roanoke for its 1990 opening.
"The whole community is devastated," said June Camper, co-chairwoman of the Roanoke Valley Horse Show. "It's a loss I don't think can be described. When you do as much as Mrs. Via did for the community, in so many areas with so many programs, you can't measure the loss."
Indeed, many organizations are now worrying how they will cope without Via's annual contribution checks, said to be at least $100,000 each.
Via's fortune has been estimated at $400 million. Rocovich confirmed in 1989 that Via gave away $10 million to $20 million a year to organizations spanning education, the arts and social services.
Via's death, coming immediately after shareholder approval of Dominion Bankshare Corp.'s sale to North Carolina-based First Union Corp., is yet another blow to the Roanoke Valley.
As Roanoke fund-raiser Geoff Whittaker put it, "The non-profit world is going to miss her. That's a special brand of generosity that's hard to come by."
"A lot of dramatic changes have occurred in the community in the last year," Dominion Chairman and arts patron Warner Dalhouse said. "I can't see anything but concern about her death from that standpoint. She was a highly energetic and interesting and accomplished woman who was always stimulating to be around. I loved her sense of humor; she could put me in stitches."
Hollins College President Maggie O'Brien also linked Via's death with the changes and lost jobs at Dominion. "We had changes with [one of the valley's largest employers] and lost our greatest philanthropist in two months," O'Brien said. "It's a great loss for the valley."
Via is "one of the reasons Roanoke has an arts community far beyond what it would normally be in a town of comparable size," Roanoke Symphony Orchestra Conductor Victoria Bond said. Bond said other potential givers have sometimes relied on Via to provide the money, holding back their own support.
Now it's up to others to sustain the momentum, she said.
"It will be a tremendous challenge to maintain what has been built. Either we all contribute, or we go the way of the dinosaurs. The responsibility rests with the community, which I don't think by and large has done what it could."
Opera Roanoke board member Tyler Pugh echoed Bond's concerns. "When you have a single person who makes such a difference to so many groups, [Via's death] will have a noticeable impact for the opera, the theater, the symphony and the arts in the next year." Honoring others
Born in Milwaukee, Via was the adopted daughter of Harry Bradley, in whose honor Roanoke's free clinic is named, and Marion Bradley, his first wife. Bradley made his fortune founding the Allen-Bradley Co., a manufacturer of industrial automation equipment.
Via moved to Roanoke in 1945 after marrying Roanoke native Charles Via, who became a Roanoke County Democratic chairman and county Civil Defense director. Via was widowed at age 40 when her husband had a heart attack helping firefighters put out a small fire at their house in Southwest Roanoke. They had two sons, Peter and Edward.
Via was out of the public spotlight until 1985 when the Allen-Bradley Co. was sold to Rockwell International Corp. for $1.65 billion, the highest price ever paid at the time for a privately held U.S. company.
The deal gave Via an additional $300 million in trusts, but she was upset by the sale, claiming it had been engineered by the trustees against her will. She described the sale as "a very unhappy thing" that would not have happened if her father had been alive.
Via was particularly concerned about the company's employees and her father's wishes that they be provided with the benefits he had established, such as a medical facility and an alcohol treatment program.
She sued the Milwaukee trustees in 1987 for $100 million, alleging that their decisions to invest her money in income-producing securities rather than long-term growth stocks caused her to lose money.
She also alleged collusion among the trustees in the sale, charging that they conspired with her half-sister, Jane Pettit, who was one of Milwaukee's most prominent benefactors.
The suit was settled in 1988, when Via was awarded $3 million and given the right to name her own trustees.
Although Via had been known as a patron of the arts and a collector, the sale of her father's company and the ensuing publicity about her wealth made her a target for even more requests for donations.
Many of her gifts - such as the $1.06 million she gave to the Free Clinic - were anonymous at first. But many in the Roanoke Valley knew the source, even when her privacy was protected.
Many of the gifts were in honor of family and friends. In 1987 she gave $10 million to the Virginia Tech College of Engineering in honor of her husband and her father. A year earlier, she had given Tech $3 million to establish the Harvey W. Peters Research Center for the study of Parkinson's Disease. Peters had been a friend and attorney to the Bradley family in Milwaukee.
Tech Provost E. Fred Carlisle said a generation of students will benefit from Via's kindness.
"Marion Via was a great friend and benefactor of this university and all of us at Virginia Tech are deeply saddened by her death," Carlisle said. "She was a woman of means who generously shared with others the fruits of her life."
James Wolfe, assistant provost and director of the Parkinson's center, said Via always was interested in young people.
She would stay at Tech banquets long after the last cup of coffee had been served, talking with students who were benefitting from her scholarships, he said.
"She seemed, as many real benefactors often are, to be happy to be able to provide these gifts," Wolfe said.
Many times, he heard her speak of how important it was that people be treated fairly and equally. It was important to her father that the people at his company be treated that way, too, Wolfe said.
Nothing for show
The anonymous contributions continued - to the Rescue Mission, Hollins College, Roanoke College, the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, the Salvation Army and more. Most of the gifts went to organizations in the Roanoke Valley.
Via made occasional political contributions as well. Last year, she gave to Republican Bob Goodlatte's successful campaign for the 6th District congressional seat. In 1985 she gave to a Democrat running for the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors.
There were exceptions to her penchant for anonymity.
One was the Roanoke Valley Horse Show, to which she pledged $1 million over 10 years to sponsor the jumper division. She also has been the sole sponsor for the show's Grand Prix event since its 1985 start. In 1993, the event will have a $125,000 purse, the largest in the country for a Grand Prix.
She also pledged $500,000 to the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra over 10 years to underwrite the conductor's salary and benefits. Her gift helped bring Bond to Roanoke in 1986 as the orchestra's first full-time conductor.
"She was probably one of the closest friends I had in Roanoke," Bond said. "I feel she was almost like a parent.
"Everything about her was generous," Bond said. "She didn't do anything for show," often going barefoot or wearing house slippers when entertaining close friends at her home.
Via had eclectic tastes, ranging from popular music of the '40s to Wagner. She had a "wonderful voice," Bond said, and studied both singing and classical ballet, becoming good enough to be invited to join the company of Mary Wigman, an internationally known dancer and choreographer who was a major influence on modern dance in the United States.
Bond said Via had a "mischievous sense of humor." The two regularly got together over pizza and Jack Daniels bourbon. "Domino's pizza - that was the dinner of choice. It was sort of a wicked treat she would give herself. For the rest of the time she ate approved food," Bond said.
Mill Mountain Theatre Director Jere Lee Hodgin also praised Via for her appreciation and knowledge of music and theater. "She loved people who were passionate about what they were doing; it didn't matter if it was the free clinic or the opera or the theater.
"So we'll miss her support - not just financial - but as a person who knew theater, a great patron and as a friend."
Bud Dowdey, a Roanoke video producer who often worked for Via taping symphony and opera functions, recalled that the reclusive Via would spend hours upon hours "reliving" the shows on her VCR.
Although Rocovich repeatedly has told recipients not to count on Via's gifts continuing after her death, Dowdey recalled that Via hinted at the contents of her will with him once recently.
"She told me, `I have a lot of surprises coming. A lot of people will be surprised when I die,' " Dowdey recalled.
Survivors include a brother, her two sons, two granddaughters and one great-grandson. A private family graveside service will be held.
A memorial service will be conducted at St. Johns Episcopal Church 2 p.m. Wednesday by the Rev. Thomas P. O'Dell and the Rev. David Churchman Brown. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions to the Bradley Free Clinic, 1240 Third St. S.W., Roanoke 24016; or the Roanoke Rescue Mission, P.O. Box 525, 402 Fourth St. S.E., Roanoke 24003.
Arrangements are by Oakey South Chapel.
Staff writers Jeff DeBell, George Kegley, Madelyn Rosenberg and Jack Bogaczyk contributed to this story.
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