Sarah Mellon


Sarah Cordelia Mellon Scaife was an American heiress and Republican party donor.

Early life

Sarah was born on December 10, 1903. She was the daughter of Jennie Taylor Mellon and Richard B. Mellon, a noted banker, industrialist, and philanthropist.
Her paternal grandfather was Judge Thomas Mellon and her uncle was Andrew W. Mellon, a former Secretary of the Treasury during the Great Depression and U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James'. She was one of the heirs to the Mellon fortune, including Mellon Bank and major investments in Gulf Oil and Alcoa. Her maternal grandparents were merchant Alexander King and Sarah Cordelia King.
In 1957, when Fortune prepared its first list of the wealthiest Americans, it estimated that Sarah Mellon, her brother Richard King Mellon, and her cousins Ailsa Mellon-Bruce and Paul Mellon were all amongst the richest eight people in the United States, with fortunes of between $400 and $700 million each.

Personal life

In 1927, Sarah was married to Alan Magee Scaife, an industrialist who was president chairman of the Scaife Company. Together, they were the parents of:
Sarah's husband died in 1958, and she died at West Penn Hospital on December 28, 1965. After a funeral at the East Liberty Presbyterian Church, she was buried at Allegheny Cemetery in Pittsburgh. After her death, her collection of furniture and art was sold by the Parke-Bernet Galleries in New York while her jewelry was sold by William J. Fischer.