Dorris Carlson, an unassuming philanthropist who, with her husband and often anonymously, gave hundreds of millions of dollars to charities, died Saturday in Rochester after a lengthy illness. She was 94.
Mrs. Carlson's fortune was made when her husband, Chester F. Carlson, invented the xerography, the process which revolutionized office procedures. Mr. Carlson died in 1968 at the age of 62, leaving an estate worth $46.7 million.
Their daughter, Catherine Carlson, of Rochester said her father "wanted to die a poor man" and her mother had the same philosophy. "She was the sort of person who gave money and never thought of it again," her daughter said. "She wasn't attached to it."
Born in Port Norfolk, Va., Mrs. Carlson attended Hunter College and Union Theological Seminary in New York. "Her primary interest was libraries and ecumenism," her daughter said. Dorris first married Luther Glenroy Talbot and secondly married Chester Floyd Carlson, only child of Olof Adoph Carlson and Ellen Hawkins, was the founder of Xerox Corporation.
Mrs. Carlson founded private libraries and meditation centers in various parts of the country. She also gave thousands of books on spirituality to public libraries, monastic orders, hospitals, prisons and other institutions worldwide.
She conducted seminars on spiritual philosophies at several colleges and institutions and was awarded an honorary doctor of humane letters degree in 1970 from the former Rosary Hill College in Buffalo for her work in ecumenism.
Dorris even persuaded her husband, a trained scientist and skeptic, to support research in paranormal science. "She had some ability of that sort," said Ian Stevenson, a professor at the University of Virginia, who had known the Carlsons since 1960. "It's still a very active program with an endowed chair, all funded from the bequest to the university when he died," he said.
The Carlsons moved to Rochester in 1947 when the Haloid Co., later to become Xerox Corp., started work on Mr. Carlson's invention. As xerography became accepted and profitable, the Carlsons made donations to hospitals in Brooklyn and Virginia, the United Negro College Fund and a 40-acre home for the developmentally disabled in Virginia.
In addition to her adopted daughter, Mrs. Carlson is survived by a sister, Violet Greco of Virginia.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday at the chapel of Colgate Rochester Divinity School, Bexley Hall, Crozer Theological Seminary, 1100 S. Goodman St.
Memorials may be made to the Genesee Hospital Foundation, 224 Alexander St., Rochester, N.Y. 14607.
Source: Obituary Dorris Carlson, 94, VA Native, Philanthropist Democrat and Chronicle Daily Press Jan 17, 1998 Rochester, NY
Mrs. Carlson's fortune was made when her husband, Chester F. Carlson, invented the xerography, the process which revolutionized office procedures. Mr. Carlson died in 1968 at the age of 62, leaving an estate worth $46.7 million.
Their daughter, Catherine Carlson, of Rochester said her father "wanted to die a poor man" and her mother had the same philosophy. "She was the sort of person who gave money and never thought of it again," her daughter said. "She wasn't attached to it."
Born in Port Norfolk, Va., Mrs. Carlson attended Hunter College and Union Theological Seminary in New York. "Her primary interest was libraries and ecumenism," her daughter said. Dorris first married Luther Glenroy Talbot and secondly married Chester Floyd Carlson, only child of Olof Adoph Carlson and Ellen Hawkins, was the founder of Xerox Corporation.
Mrs. Carlson founded private libraries and meditation centers in various parts of the country. She also gave thousands of books on spirituality to public libraries, monastic orders, hospitals, prisons and other institutions worldwide.
She conducted seminars on spiritual philosophies at several colleges and institutions and was awarded an honorary doctor of humane letters degree in 1970 from the former Rosary Hill College in Buffalo for her work in ecumenism.
Dorris even persuaded her husband, a trained scientist and skeptic, to support research in paranormal science. "She had some ability of that sort," said Ian Stevenson, a professor at the University of Virginia, who had known the Carlsons since 1960. "It's still a very active program with an endowed chair, all funded from the bequest to the university when he died," he said.
The Carlsons moved to Rochester in 1947 when the Haloid Co., later to become Xerox Corp., started work on Mr. Carlson's invention. As xerography became accepted and profitable, the Carlsons made donations to hospitals in Brooklyn and Virginia, the United Negro College Fund and a 40-acre home for the developmentally disabled in Virginia.
In addition to her adopted daughter, Mrs. Carlson is survived by a sister, Violet Greco of Virginia.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday at the chapel of Colgate Rochester Divinity School, Bexley Hall, Crozer Theological Seminary, 1100 S. Goodman St.
Memorials may be made to the Genesee Hospital Foundation, 224 Alexander St., Rochester, N.Y. 14607.
Source: Obituary Dorris Carlson, 94, VA Native, Philanthropist Democrat and Chronicle Daily Press Jan 17, 1998 Rochester, NY
Dorris Carlson, an unassuming philanthropist who, with her husband and often anonymously, gave hundreds of millions of dollars to charities, died Saturday in Rochester after a lengthy illness. She was 94.
Mrs. Carlson's fortune was made when her husband, Chester F. Carlson, invented the xerography, the process which revolutionized office procedures. Mr. Carlson died in 1968 at the age of 62, leaving an estate worth $46.7 million.
Their daughter, Catherine Carlson, of Rochester said her father "wanted to die a poor man" and her mother had the same philosophy. "She was the sort of person who gave money and never thought of it again," her daughter said. "She wasn't attached to it."
Born in Port Norfolk, Va., Mrs. Carlson attended Hunter College and Union Theological Seminary in New York. "Her primary interest was libraries and ecumenism," her daughter said. Dorris first married Luther Glenroy Talbot and secondly married Chester Floyd Carlson, only child of Olof Adoph Carlson and Ellen Hawkins, was the founder of Xerox Corporation.
Mrs. Carlson founded private libraries and meditation centers in various parts of the country. She also gave thousands of books on spirituality to public libraries, monastic orders, hospitals, prisons and other institutions worldwide.
She conducted seminars on spiritual philosophies at several colleges and institutions and was awarded an honorary doctor of humane letters degree in 1970 from the former Rosary Hill College in Buffalo for her work in ecumenism.
Dorris even persuaded her husband, a trained scientist and skeptic, to support research in paranormal science. "She had some ability of that sort," said Ian Stevenson, a professor at the University of Virginia, who had known the Carlsons since 1960. "It's still a very active program with an endowed chair, all funded from the bequest to the university when he died," he said.
The Carlsons moved to Rochester in 1947 when the Haloid Co., later to become Xerox Corp., started work on Mr. Carlson's invention. As xerography became accepted and profitable, the Carlsons made donations to hospitals in Brooklyn and Virginia, the United Negro College Fund and a 40-acre home for the developmentally disabled in Virginia.
In addition to her adopted daughter, Mrs. Carlson is survived by a sister, Violet Greco of Virginia.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday at the chapel of Colgate Rochester Divinity School, Bexley Hall, Crozer Theological Seminary, 1100 S. Goodman St.
Memorials may be made to the Genesee Hospital Foundation, 224 Alexander St., Rochester, N.Y. 14607.
Source: Obituary Dorris Carlson, 94, VA Native, Philanthropist Democrat and Chronicle Daily Press Jan 17, 1998 Rochester, NY
Mrs. Carlson's fortune was made when her husband, Chester F. Carlson, invented the xerography, the process which revolutionized office procedures. Mr. Carlson died in 1968 at the age of 62, leaving an estate worth $46.7 million.
Their daughter, Catherine Carlson, of Rochester said her father "wanted to die a poor man" and her mother had the same philosophy. "She was the sort of person who gave money and never thought of it again," her daughter said. "She wasn't attached to it."
Born in Port Norfolk, Va., Mrs. Carlson attended Hunter College and Union Theological Seminary in New York. "Her primary interest was libraries and ecumenism," her daughter said. Dorris first married Luther Glenroy Talbot and secondly married Chester Floyd Carlson, only child of Olof Adoph Carlson and Ellen Hawkins, was the founder of Xerox Corporation.
Mrs. Carlson founded private libraries and meditation centers in various parts of the country. She also gave thousands of books on spirituality to public libraries, monastic orders, hospitals, prisons and other institutions worldwide.
She conducted seminars on spiritual philosophies at several colleges and institutions and was awarded an honorary doctor of humane letters degree in 1970 from the former Rosary Hill College in Buffalo for her work in ecumenism.
Dorris even persuaded her husband, a trained scientist and skeptic, to support research in paranormal science. "She had some ability of that sort," said Ian Stevenson, a professor at the University of Virginia, who had known the Carlsons since 1960. "It's still a very active program with an endowed chair, all funded from the bequest to the university when he died," he said.
The Carlsons moved to Rochester in 1947 when the Haloid Co., later to become Xerox Corp., started work on Mr. Carlson's invention. As xerography became accepted and profitable, the Carlsons made donations to hospitals in Brooklyn and Virginia, the United Negro College Fund and a 40-acre home for the developmentally disabled in Virginia.
In addition to her adopted daughter, Mrs. Carlson is survived by a sister, Violet Greco of Virginia.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday at the chapel of Colgate Rochester Divinity School, Bexley Hall, Crozer Theological Seminary, 1100 S. Goodman St.
Memorials may be made to the Genesee Hospital Foundation, 224 Alexander St., Rochester, N.Y. 14607.
Source: Obituary Dorris Carlson, 94, VA Native, Philanthropist Democrat and Chronicle Daily Press Jan 17, 1998 Rochester, NY
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