The Mitzie Holliday Memorial Fund was established to honor Hermina “Mitzie” Holliday, a hardworking single mother whose legacy of sacrifice and generosity will benefit women for generations to come
Born to Polish immigrants in 1932, Mitzie grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. When her father passed away in 1945, Mitzie left the 9th grade to take care of her mother. She’d never finish her formal education—a fact that proved problematic many years later, when Mitzie escaped a bad marriage and was left to raise her son, Jim, with minimal support.
She struggled to make ends meet. “She held honorable jobs,” says Jim—the Kaufmann’s bake department and the Heinz production floor among them—but she never made much money. “She survived, and I don’t know how,” Jim says. “She may have only had a 9th grade education, but she was the smartest person I ever knew.”
Mitzie’s bigheartedness never wavered, even through those difficult years. “My mom had nothing,” says Jim, “but she would give anybody anything she had. People would come to her with their problems. She had plenty of problems of her own, but she was always willing to listen and help in any way that she could. Everyone who knew her loved her. Strangers were attracted to her—they’d just come over and just start talking. And she’d always listen. That’s the kind of person she was.”
Despite a meager income, Mitzie managed to help her son through college. Higher education changed their lives: Jim majored in engineering, and his subsequent job at Westinghouse gave both he and his mother the comfort and security they’d lacked for so long.
If Mitzie had had a better education, Jim realized, life might have been easier for her. “That’s the motivation for the fund,” he says. “To help women in bad situations get an education, and therefore better jobs and better lives.” Established as a donor-advised fund, the Mitzie Holliday Memorial Fund will eventually become a scholarship. “My hope is that when there’s enough money in there and it’s generating enough interest, it can pay a full year’s tuition for somebody. And if they qualify for it once, they can continue to qualify and eventually get their entire degree.”
The fund reflects the kindness and strength that defined Mitzie Holliday. “The things I saw her go through—I have a greater appreciation now for how hard it must have been, and how strong she really was,” Jim says. When her health declined, Mitzie joined her son at the gym. “Of course, everybody there loved her,” he laughs.
Though Mitzie passed away on December 27, 1998, the Mitzie Holliday Memorial Fund ensures that her love and generosity live on. “My mom was my best friend,” Jim says. “She made my life make sense. I miss her very much. This isn’t my fund—it’s hers. I’m not making these donations—she is. All of this is motivated by her.”