Caroline P. Ireland

Caroline Patterson Ireland (born December 7, 1921 in San Diego, California; died January 31, 2019 in Lynn Haven, Florida) was an art collector and philanthropist.

Caroline was the daughter of Fisher Wade and Ella Johnson Patterson. She graduated from Whittier College in 1943. By the time she reached her early 30s she had been twice widowed, by Wayne Daly, and Mike O'Leary, and had lost her only daughter, Cathy O'Leary. In 1965 she married Vulcan Materials president Charles W. Ireland and became a step-mother to his five daughters.

Ireland maintained a lifelong interest in education and the arts. She served as a trustee at her alma mater and the Panama City Episcopal Day School, as well as on the Public Building Board for Lynn Haven, the Northwest (Florida) Regional Library Board, the president's councils of the University of Alabama and University of Florida, and the advisory boards for the Birmingham Museum of Art, New Orleans Museum of Art and Lynn Haven Public Library. She was a founder of the Friends of the Bay County Public Libraries and of the University of Florida's Sam P. Harn Museum.

The Irelands founded the Caroline P. and Charles W. Ireland Foundation, which she served as president. They also endowed the Caroline P. and Charles W. Ireland Endowment for Scholarly Distinction and the Caroline P. and Charles W. Ireland International Students Fund at UAB. She also provided the funds for a Caroline P. Ireland Endowed Award for Exceptional Students and Projects in Graduate Studies which provides up to 10 scholarships each year. Her gifts to UAB also established a conference room at the Reynolds Historical Library and made significan contributions to the UAB West Pavilion, the Alys Robinson Stephens Performing Arts Center, the UAB Department of Art and Art History, the UAB School of Nursing, and the Camellia Medical Group.

References

• "Caroline Patterson Ireland" obituary (February 10, 2019) The Birmingham News