Ernesta Drinker Ballard (1920 – August 11, 2005) was an American horticulturalist and feminist. Among the founders of the National Organization for Women, the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, and Women's Way, Ballard was the executive director of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society from 1963 to 1981, credited by The New York Times with bringing its annual Philadelphia Flower Show to "international prominence."
Ernesta Drinker Ballard, who saved the Philadelphia Flower Show and transformed it from a horticultural beauty show into a spectacular international educational event, died Aug. 11 at the Cathedral Village retirement community in Philadelphia. She was 85 and formerly lived in the Chestnut Hill area of Philadelphia.
The cause was complications of a stroke, her family said.
For 18 years, from 1963 to 1981, she was the executive director of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Early in that period, the society's annual flower show, which began in 1829 and eventually grew into the largest indoor flower show in the United States was faltering, and a two-year suspension was discussed. Mrs. Ballard argued that a suspension might be fatal and instead changed the content of the show, bringing it to international prominence.
An exhibitor herself, she directed the show for 17 years, until 1981. She opened it to amateur growers and used it as a teaching laboratory for a wider public. Last year's show covered more than 30 acres with flower, garden and landscape displays and competitions, and lectures, workshops and cooking demonstrations. It drew more than a quarter million visitors.
Under Mrs. Ballard's guidance, the event began to produce a financial surplus, which she used to start the Horticultural Society's community gardening program, Philadelphia Green. That program, which turns vacant lots into vegetable gardens and flower beds, became one of the largest such urban greening projects in the nation.
Mrs. Ballard also played a leading role in saving public monuments like the Swann Fountain on Logan Circle and restoring the buildings and grounds of Philadelphia's historic Fairmount Waterworks. She was a Fairmount Park commissioner for 21 years, until 2002.
Ernesta Drinker was born into a distinguished Philadelphia family, a daughter of a prominent lawyer, Harry Drinker, and Sophie Hutcheson Drinker, a feminist and author. She was not encouraged to attend college but graduated as an adult from the Pennsylvania School of Horticulture for Women (now part of Temple University) in 1954, when she started her own greenhouse business.
Mrs. Ballard was also known as the "godmother of Philadelphia feminism." She was a founder of local chapters of groups like the National Organization for Women and campaigned for the Equal Rights Amendment and abortion rights.
"The Feminine Mystique" (1963) by Betty Friedan propelled Mrs. Ballard toward feminism, and it was Ms. Friedan who invited her to start the NOW chapter. She was also a co-founder of Women's Way, a seminal Philadelphia fund-raising group that supports an array of women's organizations and causes.
Mrs. Ballard's husband, Frederic, a prominent lawyer and former president of the American Bonsai Association, died in 2001. She is survived by their son, Frederic L. Jr., of Bethesda, Md.; three daughters, Alice W. Ballard of Philadelphia, Sophie B. Bilezikian of Scarsdale, N.Y., and Ernesta Ballard of Ketchikan, Alaska; a sister, Cecilia D. Saltonstall of Exeter, N.H.; a brother, Henry Drinker of Bedford, Mass.; eight grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.
Ernesta Drinker Ballard, who saved the Philadelphia Flower Show and transformed it from a horticultural beauty show into a spectacular international educational event, died Aug. 11 at the Cathedral Village retirement community in Philadelphia. She was 85 and formerly lived in the Chestnut Hill area of Philadelphia.
The cause was complications of a stroke, her family said.
For 18 years, from 1963 to 1981, she was the executive director of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Early in that period, the society's annual flower show, which began in 1829 and eventually grew into the largest indoor flower show in the United States was faltering, and a two-year suspension was discussed. Mrs. Ballard argued that a suspension might be fatal and instead changed the content of the show, bringing it to international prominence.
An exhibitor herself, she directed the show for 17 years, until 1981. She opened it to amateur growers and used it as a teaching laboratory for a wider public. Last year's show covered more than 30 acres with flower, garden and landscape displays and competitions, and lectures, workshops and cooking demonstrations. It drew more than a quarter million visitors.
Under Mrs. Ballard's guidance, the event began to produce a financial surplus, which she used to start the Horticultural Society's community gardening program, Philadelphia Green. That program, which turns vacant lots into vegetable gardens and flower beds, became one of the largest such urban greening projects in the nation.
Mrs. Ballard also played a leading role in saving public monuments like the Swann Fountain on Logan Circle and restoring the buildings and grounds of Philadelphia's historic Fairmount Waterworks. She was a Fairmount Park commissioner for 21 years, until 2002.
Ernesta Drinker was born into a distinguished Philadelphia family, a daughter of a prominent lawyer, Harry Drinker, and Sophie Hutcheson Drinker, a feminist and author. She was not encouraged to attend college but graduated as an adult from the Pennsylvania School of Horticulture for Women (now part of Temple University) in 1954, when she started her own greenhouse business.
Mrs. Ballard was also known as the "godmother of Philadelphia feminism." She was a founder of local chapters of groups like the National Organization for Women and campaigned for the Equal Rights Amendment and abortion rights.
"The Feminine Mystique" (1963) by Betty Friedan propelled Mrs. Ballard toward feminism, and it was Ms. Friedan who invited her to start the NOW chapter. She was also a co-founder of Women's Way, a seminal Philadelphia fund-raising group that supports an array of women's organizations and causes.
Mrs. Ballard's husband, Frederic, a prominent lawyer and former president of the American Bonsai Association, died in 2001. She is survived by their son, Frederic L. Jr., of Bethesda, Md.; three daughters, Alice W. Ballard of Philadelphia, Sophie B. Bilezikian of Scarsdale, N.Y., and Ernesta Ballard of Ketchikan, Alaska; a sister, Cecilia D. Saltonstall of Exeter, N.H.; a brother, Henry Drinker of Bedford, Mass.; eight grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.
Ernesta Drinker Ballard (1920 – August 11, 2005) was an American horticulturalist and feminist. Among the founders of the National Organization for Women, the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, and Women's Way, Ballard was the executive director of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society from 1963 to 1981, credited by The New York Times with bringing its annual Philadelphia Flower Show to "international prominence."
Ernesta Drinker Ballard, who saved the Philadelphia Flower Show and transformed it from a horticultural beauty show into a spectacular international educational event, died Aug. 11 at the Cathedral Village retirement community in Philadelphia. She was 85 and formerly lived in the Chestnut Hill area of Philadelphia.
The cause was complications of a stroke, her family said.
For 18 years, from 1963 to 1981, she was the executive director of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Early in that period, the society's annual flower show, which began in 1829 and eventually grew into the largest indoor flower show in the United States was faltering, and a two-year suspension was discussed. Mrs. Ballard argued that a suspension might be fatal and instead changed the content of the show, bringing it to international prominence.
An exhibitor herself, she directed the show for 17 years, until 1981. She opened it to amateur growers and used it as a teaching laboratory for a wider public. Last year's show covered more than 30 acres with flower, garden and landscape displays and competitions, and lectures, workshops and cooking demonstrations. It drew more than a quarter million visitors.
Under Mrs. Ballard's guidance, the event began to produce a financial surplus, which she used to start the Horticultural Society's community gardening program, Philadelphia Green. That program, which turns vacant lots into vegetable gardens and flower beds, became one of the largest such urban greening projects in the nation.
Mrs. Ballard also played a leading role in saving public monuments like the Swann Fountain on Logan Circle and restoring the buildings and grounds of Philadelphia's historic Fairmount Waterworks. She was a Fairmount Park commissioner for 21 years, until 2002.
Ernesta Drinker was born into a distinguished Philadelphia family, a daughter of a prominent lawyer, Harry Drinker, and Sophie Hutcheson Drinker, a feminist and author. She was not encouraged to attend college but graduated as an adult from the Pennsylvania School of Horticulture for Women (now part of Temple University) in 1954, when she started her own greenhouse business.
Mrs. Ballard was also known as the "godmother of Philadelphia feminism." She was a founder of local chapters of groups like the National Organization for Women and campaigned for the Equal Rights Amendment and abortion rights.
"The Feminine Mystique" (1963) by Betty Friedan propelled Mrs. Ballard toward feminism, and it was Ms. Friedan who invited her to start the NOW chapter. She was also a co-founder of Women's Way, a seminal Philadelphia fund-raising group that supports an array of women's organizations and causes.
Mrs. Ballard's husband, Frederic, a prominent lawyer and former president of the American Bonsai Association, died in 2001. She is survived by their son, Frederic L. Jr., of Bethesda, Md.; three daughters, Alice W. Ballard of Philadelphia, Sophie B. Bilezikian of Scarsdale, N.Y., and Ernesta Ballard of Ketchikan, Alaska; a sister, Cecilia D. Saltonstall of Exeter, N.H.; a brother, Henry Drinker of Bedford, Mass.; eight grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.
Ernesta Drinker Ballard, who saved the Philadelphia Flower Show and transformed it from a horticultural beauty show into a spectacular international educational event, died Aug. 11 at the Cathedral Village retirement community in Philadelphia. She was 85 and formerly lived in the Chestnut Hill area of Philadelphia.
The cause was complications of a stroke, her family said.
For 18 years, from 1963 to 1981, she was the executive director of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Early in that period, the society's annual flower show, which began in 1829 and eventually grew into the largest indoor flower show in the United States was faltering, and a two-year suspension was discussed. Mrs. Ballard argued that a suspension might be fatal and instead changed the content of the show, bringing it to international prominence.
An exhibitor herself, she directed the show for 17 years, until 1981. She opened it to amateur growers and used it as a teaching laboratory for a wider public. Last year's show covered more than 30 acres with flower, garden and landscape displays and competitions, and lectures, workshops and cooking demonstrations. It drew more than a quarter million visitors.
Under Mrs. Ballard's guidance, the event began to produce a financial surplus, which she used to start the Horticultural Society's community gardening program, Philadelphia Green. That program, which turns vacant lots into vegetable gardens and flower beds, became one of the largest such urban greening projects in the nation.
Mrs. Ballard also played a leading role in saving public monuments like the Swann Fountain on Logan Circle and restoring the buildings and grounds of Philadelphia's historic Fairmount Waterworks. She was a Fairmount Park commissioner for 21 years, until 2002.
Ernesta Drinker was born into a distinguished Philadelphia family, a daughter of a prominent lawyer, Harry Drinker, and Sophie Hutcheson Drinker, a feminist and author. She was not encouraged to attend college but graduated as an adult from the Pennsylvania School of Horticulture for Women (now part of Temple University) in 1954, when she started her own greenhouse business.
Mrs. Ballard was also known as the "godmother of Philadelphia feminism." She was a founder of local chapters of groups like the National Organization for Women and campaigned for the Equal Rights Amendment and abortion rights.
"The Feminine Mystique" (1963) by Betty Friedan propelled Mrs. Ballard toward feminism, and it was Ms. Friedan who invited her to start the NOW chapter. She was also a co-founder of Women's Way, a seminal Philadelphia fund-raising group that supports an array of women's organizations and causes.
Mrs. Ballard's husband, Frederic, a prominent lawyer and former president of the American Bonsai Association, died in 2001. She is survived by their son, Frederic L. Jr., of Bethesda, Md.; three daughters, Alice W. Ballard of Philadelphia, Sophie B. Bilezikian of Scarsdale, N.Y., and Ernesta Ballard of Ketchikan, Alaska; a sister, Cecilia D. Saltonstall of Exeter, N.H.; a brother, Henry Drinker of Bedford, Mass.; eight grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.
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