Anne Buydens Douglas, who died April 29 at age 102, collaborated with her husband Kirk Douglas in extraordinarily generous philanthropic ventures. The couple, both of whom reached their centenary, showed that advanced age can be accompanied by heightened humanistic values.
Born Hannelore Marx in Hanover, Germany, to a family of wealthy industrialists, she acquired business smarts directly from her father. This acumen served her well decades later in 1954 when she married Douglas, a movie star whose finances were in a state of ruins.
By astute dealing and investments, as well as a lucrative art collecting habit, Anne Douglas accumulated dozens of millions of dollars, which she and her husband resolved to donate to a range of charities, from health care and social work to the arts.