Carrolle Perry Devonish, 85, formerly of Philadelphia, the first female and Black director of the Philadelphia Foundation, retired executive director of the Anguilla Community Foundation, former local development director for the United Negro College Fund, celebrated consultant on community philanthropy, and mentor, died Wednesday, May 3, of a heart condition while traveling in Bogota, Colombia.
Mrs. Perry Devonish began her career coordinating philanthropy in Philadelphia in the 1980s and, over the next two decades, connected hundreds of philanthropists with community service organizations that addressed inequities regarding education, arts and culture, health and medicine, employment, crime, and social justice for minorities, women, and underrepresented people.
Her tenure as director of the Philadelphia Foundation, from 1991 to 1999, is called the “Perry phase” by admiring colleagues, and she focused on building long-term assets and working closely with community leaders in making hundreds of grants for millions of dollars every year.
She was particularly active among Black philanthropists. “African Americans were seen as recipients of giving and not necessarily the givers,” she said in 2008. “That is a myth that is and continues to be.”
