Journalist leaves ‘transformative’ gift

Meg Greenfield’s lifelong passion for classical languages and literature did not end when the former Washington Post editorial page editor and Pulitzer Prize winner died last May. The journalist has left a bequest valued at about $2.9 million to the University of Washington’s department of classics.

Greenfield’s bequest includes about $1.7 million for an endowed scholarship fund named for her late brother, Jim Greenfield, who died in 1973. In addition, she left her waterfront summer home on Bainbridge Island to the department as a place of retreat and study, as well as a $500,000 endowment to maintain it. She attracted prominent national and regional leaders and thinkers to Bainbridge Island to exchange ideas. The home is valued at about $650,000.

The bequest is one of the largest gifts ever received within the UW’s College of Arts and Sciences.

“In an academic field like ours, a gift on this scale is transformative,” said Stephen Hinds, classics department chairman. “Meg’s generosity will enable us to offer full undergraduate scholarships and graduate fellowships to students who share her love for the ancient world and the Greek and Latin languages.”

Greenfield was a Seattle native who spent her professional life in Washington, D.C., working for the Washington Post for more than three decades as an editorial writer and editorial page editor. In 1974 she began writing a biweekly column in Newsweek. She won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing in 1978.

Greenfield was a graduate of Smith college. Her friendship with former UW president William Gerberding led her to meet faculty in the classics department. Her brother attended the UW in the 1940s. ¶

Joel Schwarz,
News & Information