Orlando lost one of its greatest philanthropists with the death of Gracia Andersen, widow of former Orlando Sentinel publisher Martin Andersen. Mrs. Andersen donated millions of dollars to cultural and nonprofit organizations in the Orlando area. She preferred to make her gifts without fanfare, but now that she has passed, she is receiving the recognition she shunned in life.

In 1997, a cashier's check for $1 million was delivered to the Orlando Science Center. Nobody knew who wrote the check or who delivered it. Frank Hubbard, a close friend and founder of Hubbard Construction divulged that it was he who delivered the check from Gracia.

Gracia Andersen died of cancer in North Carolina, at her summer home in Highlands. Gracia's married Martin Andersen in 1950 causing quite a stir in Orlando, as Andersen was twice divorced, was 53 and had dated her mother, Grace Barr, who worked at the Orlando Sentinel as the paper's society and food editor. Gracia was 26 when Andersen proposed. They married in Paris, where Gracia had taken a job with Time Life International and when they returned to Orlando, she started working at the newspaper.

Gracia Andersen came from a pioneering Orlando family. Her grandfather was Judge T. Picton Warlow, who came to Orlando in the 1880s from England. Born on April 29, 1923, with her twin brother, Graham, Gracia Barr was a sickly child who underwent a series of operations for the bone disease osteomyelitis between the ages of 13 and 21. Because of her bone disease, Gracia never attended high school.

But the image she left behind with friends and family is of an intelligent, refined and modest woman. Andersen loved art, and loved to watch other people enjoy the contributions she bestowed upon the Orlando museum. She also delivered Meals On Wheels to the home-bound elderly. Among her many beneficiaries: The Boggy Creek Gang Camp for chronically ill children; Junior Achievement; Rollins College; University of Central Florida; Florida Hospital; and Sentinel Santa.

Until her hospitalization she remained lively and active. Gracia was cremated, and her ashes will be spread along with those of her husband Martin and her mother. She is survived by her brother, Graham, of New Smyrna Beach, a nephew, nieces and cousins.

For a time, Mrs. Andersen was a member of the Third Friday Book Club - the longest running book club in the history of Central Florida. Her mother, Grace Warlow Barr was also a member of the club from January 1955 to September 1960. Mrs. Anderson's name last appeared in the club minutes on March 21, 1958 as the reviewer of the book "Brann and the Iconoclast" by Charles Carver. Read more about the Third Friday Book Club at OrlandoMemory.info http://orlandomemory.info/memory/organization/third-friday-book-club

An interview with Martin Andersen, Gracie's husband, was conducted in his home in the 1970s. Listen to the interview at OrlandoMemory.info