Caroline Howard was born in 1909 in Los Angeles, California.[1] She was educated at the Marlborough School in Hancock Park, Los Angeles, Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, Connecticut, and Finch College in Manhattan, New York City.[1]
In 1935, a few months before her wedding, she established the Los Angeles Women's Junior Philharmonic.[1] After she moved to San Francisco, California with her husband, she became a donor to the San Francisco Symphony and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.[1][2] Indeed, she served on the board of directors of the San Francisco Symphony from 1946 to her death in 2008.[1] Moreover, a significant charitable donation she made to the Conservatory led to its move to Oak Street, where the Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall is named in her honor.[1][3] She also received the Golden Hallow Award from the Conservatory.[1][2] In 2010, its Annual Spring Gala was held in her honor.[2][4] Furthermore, she endowed the Caroline H. Hume Endowed Chair at the San Francisco Opera, currently held by Nicola Luisotti, the music director.[5]
She was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to serve on the board of trustees of the National Museum Services.[6] She was also appointed to serve on the National Parks Foundation by the United States Secretary of the Interior, and she was also a council member of the Yosemite Fund, a fundraising initiative for the Yosemite National Park.[1]
She served on the board of trustees of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.[1] An art collector, she was particularly fond of German expressionism.[1] She donated some of her collection to museums in the United States. For example, she donated L'Urto by Emilio Scanavino to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.[7] She also donated Figural Alpha by Ernst Wilhelm Nay to the Princeton University Art Museum.[8] Moreover, she donated Phenomenal Lands End by Paul Jenkins to the Smithsonian Institution.[9]
She received the Philanthropist of the Year award from the Association of Fundraising Professionals in 2001.[1]
On February 20, 1935, she married Jaquelin H. Hume, the co-founder of Basic American Foods.[1][10] They had four children: Patricia Highberg, Carol Tolan, William J. Hume, and George H. Hume.[1] They lived in Presidio Heights, a suburb of San Francisco.[1] She became a widow when he died in 1991.
She died in 2008 in San Francisco.[1] Her funeral took place at the Grace Cathedral in San Francisco.[1]