Announcement of the death of a local but who has had a profound personal, national and even international effect. Harriet Stimson Bullitt [thenewstribune.com]

”…Bullitt had an indomitable personality, and was a savvy businesswoman, trained zoologist, competitive fencer (Harriet won the New England Women’s Fencing Championship, defeating future Hollywood star Olympia Dukakis) and a flamenco dancer. Along with her siblings Patsy and Stimson – both of whom preceded her in death – she used a family fortune to leave an indelible mark on the Northwest. Her mother in 47 founded King Broadcasting, which Harriet would later sell to fund the family foundation. Harriet Bullitt, her sister Patsy and brother Stimson used the family fortune to fund the Bullitt Foundation, which was established by her mother Dorothy, and which over the years has provided more than $200 million in grants to environmental and conservation causes. The Bullitt Center, a first-of-its-kind environmentally green structure that will remain home to a number of conservation causes, is funded in perpetuity by the family [[bullittcenter.org]]. The family said that during World War II Harriett studied chemical engineering at the University of Washington, but left after encountering discrimination: She was the first woman at the engineering school, and as the story goes, the dean told her to avoid the library because she was distracting the students. She changed majors and tried studying home economics, but famously said she “flunked French toast,” according to the family biography. The couple moved to Florida, where Bullitt worked as a protein chemist at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Her job included milking the poison from venomous snakes to make anti-venom. Hayes said she also was a pioneering scuba diver and worked as a tugboat captain. She returned to Seattle in 62 after a divorce. The family said she would marry more times, including her current husband, whom she met during a flamenco dancing party (Harriet met her fourth husband Alex Voronin, a Russian more than decades her junior). Bullitt would eventually return to the UW and obtain a degree in zoology, graduating in 65. Age was never a Bullitt obstacle. Harriett Bullitt rafted the Grand Canyon at age 89, sitting in front of the raft as it ran the famously noisy and formidable Lava Falls rapids.”
[king5.com]