| Eloise O'Rourke Pohlad | |
| Birth Name: | Mary Eloise O'Rourke |
| Birth Date: | 26 January 1917 |
| Birth Place: | Dubuque, Iowa, US |
| Death Place: | Minnesota, U.S. |
| Alma Mater: | Mundelein College |
| Children: | 3 (including Jim and Bill Pohlad) |
| Known For: | Carl and Eloise Pohlad Family Foundation |
Eloise O'Rourke Pohlad (January 26, 1917 – November 20, 2003) was an American benefactor of many charities in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota.
Eloise attended Catholic schools for her primary schooling and secondary education. She pursued higher education in Chicago at Mundelein College (a private, Roman Catholic, women's college later purchased by Loyola University Chicago) where she studied home economics for two years.[1] After college, she worked as a teller, receptionist, and bookkeeper for the American Trust and Savings Bank in Dubuque.[2]
Mary Eloise O'Rourke met Carl Pohlad on a blind date at a football game between University of Iowa and University of Minnesota. They married on April 22, 1947, at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Key West, Iowa. They had three sons during their 56-year marriage: James ("Jim" Pohlad, an American baseball executive), Robert (Bob), and William ("Bill" Pohlad, a film producer and director).[3]
Eloise and her husband established the Carl and Eloise Pohlad Family Foundation in 1994. The foundation has given more than $100 million to community charities, and their present-day focus is funding racial justice and housing stability efforts. The organization has since been renamed to the Pohlad Family Foundation since as early as 2017.[4]
Eloise is also noted as one of the founders of the Minnesota Twins Community Fund, established in 1991 after the team's winning of the Major League Baseball 1991 World Series.[5] The foundation was created with the mission of providing opportunities for recreation and education in the Upper Midwest for "young people".
Eloise died on November 20, 2003. She died in her home at the age of 86.