Mary Ann Lippitt

Mary Ann Lippitt (June 29, 1918 – June 18, 2006) was an American pilot and philanthropist. She was born in Beverly Farms, Massachusetts, to Senator Henry F. Lippitt and Lucy Hayes Herron Lippitt. Her maternal family included Helen Herron Taft, the wife of President William Howard Taft, and her paternal family included Charles W. Lippitt, Governor of Rhode Island, as well as Henry Lippitt, also a Rhode Island governor, and Mary Ann Balch Lippitt, for whom she was named. Her brother was Frederick Lippitt, a military officer and politician.

In her youth, Lippitt participated in the 1931 national girls' lawn tennis championships. During World War II, she obtained training as a pilot, learning to fly airplanes. She worked as a flying instructor in Virginia and also flew for the postal service during the war.

In 1946, Lippitt established Lippitt Aviation Services, a company offering charter flights, repairs, and flight instruction. The business operated a fleet of four aircraft and was based at T. F. Green Airport, formerly known as Hillgrove Airport, located in Warwick, Rhode Island. She became one of the first women to own a business in Rhode Island. She remained involved with the aviation industry, participating in the International Women's Air Race in 1956, during which she was forced to make an emergency landing in Buffalo, New York, due to adverse weather conditions. She sold her aviation business in 1972.

Lippitt was also involved in philanthropy. In 2001, she donated one million dollars to the Providence Public Library, where she had served on the Board of Trustees from 1985 to 1993. A library branch was later named in her honor. Alongside her brother, she received the President's Medal from Brown University in 2004 for their philanthropic contributions.

Lippitt resided with her brother until his death in 2005. She died in Providence, Rhode Island, in 2006 at the age of 87. She is interred at Swan Point Cemetery, alongside her brother. Her former residence, shared with Frederick Lippitt, was donated to Brown University and now houses the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America. In 2013, she was inducted into the Rhode Island Aviation Hall of Fame.

Her contributions to aviation and philanthropy are documented through various memorials and recognitions, including her burial site and the facilities named in her honor.