Josiah K. Lilly, Jr.

Josiah K. Lilly Jr.
Lilly in 1913.
Born	September 25, 1893 Indianapolis, Indiana
Died	Indianapolis, Indiana
Residence	Indianapolis, Indiana
Nationality	American
Ethnicity	Swedish
Citizenship	American
Alma mater	University of Michigan
Occupation	Industrialist
Known for	Pharmaceuticals Philanthropy
Title	President of Eli Lilly & co.
Term	1948–1953
Predecessor	Eli Lilly Jr.
Successor	Eugene N. Beesley
Political party	Republican
Board member of	Lilly Endowment
Spouse(s)	Ruth Brinkmeyer
Children	Josiah Kirby Lilly III and Ruth Lilly
Parent(s)	Josiah K. Lilly Sr. and Lilly Ridgely Lilly
Relatives	Eli Lilly, Jr. (brother)

Josiah Kirby Lilly, Jr. (September 25, 1893–May 5, 1966) was a pharmaceutical industrialist and president of Eli Lilly and Company from 1948 to 1953. Lilly attended the Holderness School in Plymouth, New Hampshire and the Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. Lilly, a 1914 graduate of the school of pharmacy at the University of Michigan, was the last family member to run the company. He was the son of Josiah K. Lilly, Sr. of Lilly Ridgely Lilly. His father also headed the family business. He married Ruth Brinkmeyer and had 2 children, Ruth Lilly (1915–2009) and Josiah Kirby Lilly III (1916–1995).

Lilly was known for his philanthropic activities, such as Eagle Creek Park. He was a founder of the Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment Inc. along with his father and his brother Eli Lilly, which has become one of the largest private foundations in the United States. He was also a prolific collector of rare books and manuscripts, gold, antique weaponry, stamps, and military miniatures.

Lilly was a book collector and a member of the Grolier Club. He acquired a First Folio of the works of William Shakespeare, a Gutenberg Bible, the double elephant folio of John James Audubon's Birds of America, the first printing of the American Declaration of Independence (the Dunlap Broadside), and a first edition of Edgar Allan Poe's Tamerlane. He acquired ninety-four of the "Grolier Hundred," one-hundred volumes important in the history of printed books. Lilly "owned first edition of thousands of the most significant books of literature, history, and science, and his manuscripts ranged from a holograph of Robert Burns's "Auld Lang Syne" to the original manuscript of James M. Barrie's Peter Pan." He decided to keep his collection together and donate it to Indiana University. He approached the university in November 1954 and the university announced the donation on January 8, 1956. Lilly donated 20,000 books and 17,000 manuscripts. The collection was housed in its own building at Bloomington, the Lilly Library, which was dedicated October 3, 1960.

Through the Lilly Endowment, J.K. Lilly funded the creation of the Bibliography of American Literature, which published its first volume in 1955.

He died at Oldfields, his home in Indianapolis, Indiana.

His son J.K. Lilly III was also a philanthropist and gave money to community projects in the Cape Cod area.

Eli (Ted) Lilly II is the son of J.K. Lilly III and grandson of J.K. Lilly. Lilly maintains a low profile in the Indianapolis area.

Further Reading

• David Randall, "J.K. Lilly, America's Quiet Collector," Antiquarian Bookman, 37 (27 June 1966): 2679-81.
• Joel Silver, "J.K. Lilly, Jr.", Dictionary of Literary Biography, vol. 141, pp. 125-133. Detroit: Gale, 1994.
• Joel Silver, J.K. Lilly, Jr., Bibliophile. Bloomington, Indiana: Lilly Library, 1993.

References

Preceded by Eli Lilly Jr.

President of the Eli Lilly and Company 1948–1953

Succeeded by Eugene N. Beesley