Margaret Anne Cargill was born September 24, 1920, in Los Angeles, the daughter of Austen Cargill and granddaughter of W. W. Cargill.[1] She grew up in the Midwest. She earned a degree in arts education from the University of Minnesota and moved to Southern California.[2]
She became one of eight heirs to the Minneapolis-based grain-trading conglomerate Cargill. Forbes magazine listed her in 2005 as the 164th-richest American, with a net worth of $1.8 billion.[1][2] She was a major donor to the American Red Cross, the Nature Conservancy, the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian and the American Swedish Institute.[3] She gave away more than $200 million, always anonymously.[3]
Cargil established the Anne Ray Charitable Trust.[4] The trust provides grants for charitable and educational programs and scholarships.[5][6] She provided that, after her death, the Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies would use her wealth for charitable purposes.[7][8] The combined assets of the Margaret A. Cargill Foundation and Anne Ray Foundation make it among the top ten foundations in the United States with assets in excess of $9.2 billion.[9][10]
She died from complications of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease on August 1, 2006, at her home in La Jolla, San Diego, California.[3]
