Jeanne Ferst was well known as a fundraiser for Republican campaigns.
She even joked about it, saying that she should introduce herself as "Jeanne give me a $1,000 Ferst" when she called on donors, said a daughter, Robin Helen Ferst of Atlanta.
"Her primary goal was to raise money for Republican candidates," she said. "She prided herself in that."
In the 1950s, the Republican stalwart helped build the Georgia Republican Party. In her later years, Mrs. Ferst remained devoted to the GOP as a fundraiser and sounding board for the likes of Newt Gingrich, the former Georgia congressman who became Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives in the late 1990s.
Mr. Gingrich and other notable Republicans will serve as pallbearers for the funeral of Jeanne Rolfe Ferst, 91. She died of natural causes on Thursday at her Atlanta home. The funeral will be held at 2 p.m. today in the Spring Hill Chapel of H.M. Patterson & Son, which is handling arrangements.
Mrs. Ferst was born in Chicago and attended the University of Chicago. She worked at the United Nations and modeled in New York City. In 1940, she married Robert H. Ferst, and the couple eventually settled in Atlanta.
Mrs. Ferst's civic service and GOP involvement spanned decades. Among numerous roles, she was a five-time delegate to the Republican National Convention; a member of the 1996 Georgia Electoral College; chairman and member of the Georgia Republican finance committee; treasurer of the Georgia Republican Party; chair or co-chair of presidential finance committees; and former chairman of the Fulton County economic development advisory board.
"She was one-of-a-kind, I can assure you of that," said former U.S. Sen. Mack Mattingly, who is to speak at today's funeral. "She had been involved in the Republican Party ever since she came to Georgia, back when the Republican Party was small."
While politics was a primary focus, the world traveler and avid reader also mentored women, supported the arts and education. She served on the Kennedy Center's national committee for the arts from 2007 to 2009 and was appointed by George W. Bush to the Commission on Presidential Scholars. She founded the Robert H. Ferst Center for the Arts in honor of her husband who died in 1991.
"Jeanne and I became good friends based on her interest in Georgia Tech," said Marta H. Garcia, the school's assistant vice president for development. "She was really knowledgeable about the arts, had a good eye for art and knew music well. She had an unbelievably quick mind and was intellectually curious."
Additional survivors include another daughter, Suzanne Ferst Renfrow of Fairburn and two grandchildren.
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