page_title: Helen Bonfils
section_title: Philanthropy
hierarchical_section_title: Helen Bonfils / Philanthropy
caption_attribution_description: Bonfils Memorial Theater, located at 1475 Elizabeth Street in Denver, Colorado
context_page_description: Helen Gilmer Bonfils was an American heiress, actress, theatrical producer, newspaper executive, and philanthropist. She acted in local theatre in Denver, Colorado, and on Broadway, and also co-produced plays in Denver, New York City, and London. She succeeded her father, Frederick Gilmer Bonfils, as manager of The Denver Post in 1933, and eventually became president of the company. Lacking heirs, she invested her fortune into providing for the city of Denver and the state of Colorado, supporting the Belle Bonfils Blood Bank, the Bonfils Memorial Theatre, the University of Denver, the Denver Zoo, the Dumb Friends League, churches, and synagogues. Her estate endowed the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. She was posthumously inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 1985 and the Colorado Performing Arts Hall of Fame in 1999.
context_section_description: Lacking heirs, Bonfils invested her fortune into supporting culture, arts, healthcare, education, and humanitarian causes in Denver and the state of Colorado. She inherited the presidency of the philanthropic Frederick G. Bonfils Foundation after her father's death and between 1936 and 1973 distributed nearly $11 million.
  This included the Belle Bonfils Blood Bank, established in 1943 in memory of her mother. The blood bank eventually became self-supporting; as of 2004, the Bonfils Blood Center serves 115 Colorado hospitals and healthcare centers and has an operating budget of $57.8 million. Helen further established the Bonfils Tumor Clinic in her father's memory, finished and furnished the Holy Ghost Catholic Church at a cost of $1.2 million, and helped construct the Nurses' Home at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.
  In 1953 she dedicated the 550-seat Bonfils Memorial Theatre at 1475 Elizabeth Street, corner East Colfax Avenue, in memory of both her parents. As the headquarters for the Denver Civic Theatre, the $1.25 million theatre hosted plays, operas, concerts, lectures, films, and television shows. Helen acted there on numerous occasions. Considered "one of the country's most successful community theaters", it closed in 1986 and was converted into a Tattered Cover bookstore in 2006. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.
  Bonfils also supported the University of Denver, the Central City Opera, the Denver Symphony Orchestra, the Denver Zoo, the Dumb Friends League animal shelter, the Denver Community Chest/United Way, and many churches and synagogues. In 1948 alone, the Frederick G. Bonfils Foundation distributed more than $1.4 million to churches of different denominations. Helen also underwrote college scholarships for men and women totalling hundreds of thousands of dollars.
  Upon her death in 1972, both the Frederick G. Bonfils Foundation and the Helen G. Bonfils Foundation ceased acting as private charities and diverted all funds to a permanent endowment for the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Donald Seawell became chairman of the board of the new foundation and guided the expansion of the Denver Performing Arts Complex. By the 1990s, the downtown complex had grown to four square blocks and encompassed eight theatres with capacity seating for 9,000.
caption: Bonfils Memorial Theatre
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