Mary Elizabeth Moody Northen (10 February 1892 – 25 August 1986)[1] was an American financier and philanthropist from Galveston, Texas.
[1] Upon the death of her father, William Lewis Moody, Jr., she was named president or chairman of the board of more than 50 corporations her father had controlled,[2] including the American National Insurance Company which, at the time of Moody's death, was the biggest insurance company west of the Mississippi River and the Victorian Condo Hotel.
[7] Through her work with the Moody Foundation, she helped to fund the restoration of many historic structures in Galveston, including an abandoned Santa Fe Railroad depot and office building, turning it into a railroad museum, and the 1877 iron sailing bark Elissa.
[8] In her will she directed the Northen foundation's trustees to restore her childhood Galveston home, "The Moody Mansion", and maintain it as a museum, as well as maintain the Mountain Lake Hotel, a nature sanctuary and resort in Virginia.
Her funeral was attended by more than a thousand people and Texas Governor Mark White ordered flags flown at half-staff at state buildings in her honor.