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Walton, a grand dame of great wealth, leaves a legacy of philanthropy that will continue through her family and through the good works of those she inspired, observers say.

"At one time in Pittsburgh, when Rachel Mellon Walton's father and grandfather were creating wealth, Pittsburgh was probably the wealthiest area in the country, like Silicon Valley and Seattle now," said Carol Carter, vice president of advancement at Duquesne University.

"And now as much wealth isn't being created in Pittsburgh, so we don't have the same level of new philanthropy," she said.

Walton, 107, died March 2 at her Oakland residence. She was the daughter of Gulf Oil Corp. founder William Larimer Mellon and the granddaughter of coal magnate James Ross Mellon. During her lifetime, she endowed the arts, music, medicine, education, conservation and programs for women.

To just one of her favorite institutions, Carnegie Mellon University, she and her family gave 217 gifts totaling $694.3 million in today's dollars. In 1967, one of those gifts transformed Carnegie Institute of Technology into Carnegie Mellon University.

Walton was a hands-on philanthropist. She took part in the dedication of Posner Hall, contributed to a reception room in the business school that bears her name, and an auditorium named for her family. She and her sister, Margaret Mellon Hitchcock, gave scholarships to about 15 female graduate students in the business school every year, and Walton met with them yearly until she turned 100.

"It probably is unlikely that the kinds of fortunes that created the larger foundations in Pittsburgh will be produced in this region until the economy transforms," said Pat Getty, president of the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation. "But that doesn't mean there aren't new important philanthropies coming into being."

The old money is still prominent in Pittsburgh families, said Mike Watson, senior vice president and a trustee of the Richard King Mellon Foundation.

"Although the passing of Mrs. Walton is a very tragic thing for Pittsburgh to go through, her legacy is still intact with her family to carry on," he said.

Watson cites Walton's children among those carrying the torch. Her son, James M. Walton III, chairs the board of The Vira Heinz Endowment. Walton, her daughter Farley Walton Whetzel and son-in-law Joshua Whetzel Jr. donated what has become Beechwood Farms Nature Preserve in Fox Chapel.

Walton grew up in an era when the scions of banking and industry would meet with charities and write checks. Today, much of their charitable giving is under the control of foundations, whose staffs distribute the money.

"In terms of 'old Pittsburgh money,' you got to believe she's the last one where you could go to her," said Albert Novak, senior vice chancellor at the University of Pittsburgh. "You can see in Henry and Elsie Hillman that spirit of Mrs. Walton, too, because they do get personally involved and engaged in the organizations they support."

The Hillmans, of Squirrel Hill, were close friends of Walton. Henry L. Hillman, 87, who chairs the executive committee of the board of directors of The Hillman Co., is considered Pittsburgh's richest person. Forbes magazine estimates his wealth at $2.7 billion, making the industrialist 258th among the world's wealthiest.

Walton was a tall, thin woman with boundless energy. She swam along the shore of Man-o-War Cay at her home in the Bahamas well into her 90s, and in the pool at The Children's Institute in Squirrel Hill until her death.

Natalie Taafe Hoffman, former director of fundraising for Carnegie Mellon's business school, still marvels at her friend's energy. She recalled Walton's visit to campus 15 years ago to inspect an addition to the business school that she was supporting.

"At age 92, she would be running around the scaffolding, so furious to see how the new building was coming," she recalled. "You couldn't keep up with her."

Taafe Hoffman, now managing partner of the Point Breeze consulting firm Linden Partners, used to visit Walton's apartment. Her home was filled with warm colors, chintz fabrics, family photos and fresh lilies of the valley. She loved Russell Stover chocolates and shared them with guests.

Walton always regretted attending finishing school instead of college, as was the custom at that time for young ladies of her social standing, Carter said.

"She tried to educate herself about issues that would make life better for other people in society that didn't have the privileges and opportunities that she did," Carter said.

Walton extended her philanthropy not only to those whose services she enjoyed, but also to those whose services she would never need.

She supported the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra -- endowing the chair for the first oboe -- the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, and Shadyside Presbyterian Church, which she attended faithfully. But she also gave money and time to the Women's Center and Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh, and the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Haiti, founded by her late brother, Dr. William Larimer Mellon Jr.

When the Women's Center -- then located in an East End basement -- relocated, Walton said, "'We need to get women out of the basement,'" recalled Shirl Regan, executive director of the center.

Jamie Edwards, a descendant of the family that launched the McCune Foundation, admired the selflessness of her giving.

"She acted quietly and under different disguises -- anonymously and through other people," said Edwards, chairman of the McCune Foundation. "She wasn't one to take lot of credit for what she did."

Carnegie Mellon University in Walton's Oakland neighborhood stands as an example. Her father founded its business school in 1949 with a $6 million gift, and the Walton family over the years gave it millions but never required that the school be named for them.

The university's Graduate School of Industrial Administration in 2004 was named after David A. Tepper, a CMU graduate who founded Appaloosa Management, a $3 billion hedge fund based in Chatham, N.J., after he and his wife Marlene gave the school $55 million -- the largest single gift in the university's history.

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