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Title
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Wallace, Lila Acheson (1889-1984)
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birthday
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1889-12-25
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Birthplace
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Virden, CA
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Death Date
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1984-05-08
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Occupation
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Philanthropist
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Publisher
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Biographical Text
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Lila Acheson Wallace was a philanthropist and co-founder of Reader's Digest. Wallace was born Lila Bell Acheson in Virden, Canada. Her family moved to the US in her childhood and settled in the Midwest. She graduated from the University of Oregon in 1917, and worked in teaching for the two years following. She later studied at Ward-Belmont College. Wallace and her husband formed the idea for a magazine exhibiting collective general interest stories in the early stages of their relationship. Due to the start of World War I, and her husband serving in the Army, the idea had to be benched. During the war, Wallace organized Young Women's Christian Association centers in Eastern states for war industry women workers. In 1922, Wallace and her husband founded the Reader's Digest magazine. It ran as the best-selling consumer magazine in the US for many years. By the early 21st century, the magazine had a worldwide circulation of twenty-three million. Wallace had a deep appreciation for the arts, serving as a trustee of the Juilliard School, and providing funding for multiple New York museums throughout her career.
Wallace married DeWitt Wallace in 1921. She passed from heart failure in 1984, at the age of ninety-four.
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Contributor
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O'Neill, Iris
Lila Acheson Wallace, Building