Biographical profile of Jane Stanford wife of railroad titan Leland Stanford. However, as Henry Brooks Adams once said: "The woman who is known only through a man is known wrong." When Leland died in 1893, Jane inherited a fortune with a panoply of complex financial problems and an educational institution in dire need of funds. As the nation entered one of its periodic economic recessions and Stanford University faced the prospects of closing its doors due to lack of operating funds, Jane battled for and nurtured the university back into health and prosperity. Like a knight on a white horse jousting at the lists, Jane overcame all opponents and finally vanquished the federal government in the Supreme Court. Only one issue swirled around her death: was she poisoned? Award-winning author and syndicated columnist Daniel Alef tells the story of Jane's struggle with a "legacy of debt, trouble and worry" to allow Stanford to blossom into one of the nation's top-ranked universities. [1,291-word Titans of Fortune article]
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