Lila Bell Wallace

Lila Bell Wallace (December 25, 1889 – May 8, 1984) was an American magazine publisher and philanthropist.

Born as Lila Bell Acheson in Virden, Manitoba, Canada, her father was a Presbyterian minister who brought his family to the USA when she was a child, and she grew up in the Midwest.

In 1917, she graduated from the University of Oregon, located in Eugene, Oregon, taught at schools for two years, and then worked for the Young Women's Christian Association. She also studied at Ward–Belmont College in Nashville, Tennessee.

In 1921, she married DeWitt Wallace, with whom she co-founded the Reader's Digest magazine; they published the first issue in 1922.

In her lifetime, she made philanthropic contributions estimated at $60 million.

The Lila Wallace Reader's Digest Writers Award was given in her memory from 1990 to 2000.

On January 28, 1972, she was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Richard Nixon. In 1992, she was posthumously awarded the National Medal of Arts.

She died from heart failure, age 94, in Mount Kisco, New York.

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