Mabel Pew Myrin

Mabel Pew Myrin (1889-1972), "born Mabel Anderson Pew, was the youngest child of Joseph N. and Mary Anderson Pew. Throughout her life, she sought to address what she called 'issues of survival': the decline of education, the problems of caring for and educating the handicapped, and the increasing loss of soil fertility.

She was born June 11, 1889, in Pittsburgh, and moved with her family to Bryn Mawr following the development of Sun Oil's Marcus Hook refinery. She married H. Alarik W. Myrin, to whom she had been introduced by her brother Howard in 1919. The newlyweds moved to Argentina, where Alarik Myrin managed ranch properties and worked in the development of mineral resources.

"The Myrins were interested in the experimental education afforded by the Waldorf method, which, based on the principles of Rudolf Steiner, makes imagination and hands-on skills integral to learning academic subjects. They founded Waldorf schools in 1947 at Adelphi University on Long Island and created the Waldorf Educational Foundation four years later to carry on their interest in the method. They also helped to develop the Camphill movement in the United States, which applies Steiner's ideas to the care and teaching of mentally disabled children and adults. Mabel Pew Myrin's charitable concerns reached beyond education. Like her brothers and sister, she was deeply involved in the support of health service institutions. She was instrumental in the development of the Scheie Eye Institute and was an active trustee of the Presbyterian-University of Pennsylvania Medical Center.

"Her support also reached into higher education and the cultural community. She was a trustee of Adelphi University and a member of the board of Ursinus College. She served as president of the Lyric Opera Company of Philadelphia and was known not only for her personal generosity toward the region's cultural organizations but also for her effective fund-raising on their behalf."

Related Sourcewatch

 * J. Howard Pew - brother