Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation Partnership Thrives with Scholarship Grant to Meredith 

For 52 years, the Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation has supported students at Meredith College. A $330,000 grant for undergraduate scholarships for the 2026-27 academic year was recently received.

The Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation was established by Conkey Pate Whitehead to honor his mother, Lettie Pate Whitehead, a woman ahead of her time.  Forging her own path after her husband, Joseph B. Whitehead, one of the original bottlers of Coca-Cola, died at an early age, Lettie Pate Whitehead guided both the bottling business and the family’s real estate interests with great success. She was one of the first female directors of any major U.S. corporation, serving on the board of The Coca-Cola Company in 1934.

Whitehead was an ardent supporter of education, serving as Emory University’s first and only woman trustee from 1944 to 1953. She also served as a trustee of Agnes Scott College, received an honorary degree from Berry College, and named eight educational institutions among 14 beneficiary organizations in her will. The Foundation supports 200 colleges, universities, and secondary schools in the Southeast and serves 12,000 young women each year who have financial need. 

The Foundation’s first grant to Meredith College was $10,000 in 1974, and its growth reflects the Foundation’s confidence in the educational opportunities Meredith provides to students. The Foundation has given more than $4.8 million to Meredith College.

To learn more about Lettie Pate Whitehead, visit lpwhitehead.org/grants-program/program-areas/scholarship-program.