Introduction
Anna Thompson Dodge (August 7, 1869 - June 2, 1970) was one of the richest women in the world at the time of her death.
Biography
She was born on August 7, 1869 in Dundee, Scotland, as Anna Thompson. Her parents were William Thompson and Elizabeth Stevens. In 1896 she married Horace Elgin Dodge, Sr., of Dodge Brothers Company. The couple had a son, Horace Elgin Dodge, Jr., and a daughter, Delphine Dodge. After her husband died (only 11 months after his brother and Dodge-cofounder John Francis Dodge), she became a substantial owner of Dodge. She and John's widow Matilda sold the company in 1926 for US $146 million (equivalent to $1.98 billion in 2016). to Dillon, Read & Co., at the time, the largest cash transaction in history.
On 8 May 1926 she married actor Hugh Dillman. Dillman had previously been married to Marjorie Rambeau. She divorced Dillman in 1947. Her English home was St Leonard's at Clewer, near Windsor, in Berkshire.
She gave the City of Detroit $1,000,000 towards the construction of a fountain in memory of her late husband and son. The Horace E. Dodge and Son Memorial Fountain was designed by Isamu Noguchi in 1978, and is located near the center of Philip A. Hart Plaza.
Anna Thompson died on June 2, 1970 at her home, "Rose Terrace", in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan at the age of 100. She had been a wheelchair user for the past seven years.