(1865-1944)
Elisabeth Severance Prentiss was an esteemed art collector and philanthropist who, along with her family, left a monumental impact on the CMLA and the entire Cleveland community. She was born on 1865 to parents Fanny Benedict and Louis Severance, and spent her early years in Cleveland, Ohio before attending school at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts. In 1892, she married Dr. Dudley Peter Allen, an accomplished and innovative surgeon who was a primary founder of the Allen Memorial Medical Library through his gracious endowment. Throughout their lives together, they accumulated a remarkable art collection, and contributed tremendously to supporting and advancing the medical community in Cleveland. After Dr. Allen’s passing in 1915, Elisabeth continued to give back to the medical community, and she worked to develop and grow St. Luke’s Hospital, where she met, and later married its president, Dr. Francis Fleury Prentiss. They both became trustees of the hospital, and after Dr. Prentiss’s death, Elisabeth stepped in and became its president. Elisabeth made several notable philanthropic efforts throughout her life, including funding the constriction of the Allen Memorial Hospital and the Allen Art Museum in Oberlin, Ohio, founding the Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Foundation, and leading the funding of the Allen Memorial Medical Library, ensuring that it was named in honor of her late husband. In 1928, she was awarded with the Cleveland Medal for Public Service, and was the first woman to have accomplished this. The CMLA continues to honor Elisabeth’s selfless commitment to improving the medical community around her, and recognizes her as a principal benefactor of the organization.