Jennie McGraw

Who was Jennie McGraw?

Jennie McGraw was the daughter of John McGraw, millionaire philanthropist to Cornell. After her father's death in 1877, McGraw inherited his large fortune. She spent some of the money to build a new house, which was purchased by the Chi Psi fraternity, although a massive fire destroyed the mansion in 1906.

In Berlin in 1880, she married Daniel Willard Fiske, Cornell University's first librarian and renowned scholar. A lifelong sufferer of ill health, McGraw was suffering from tuberculosis and died shortly after their wedding. She was interred in Sage Chapel.