Virginia Binger, 86; 3M Co. Heiress, Philanthropist

Virginia McKnight Binger, 86, the heiress of a 3M Co. fortune who built her family’s charitable foundation into one of the most influential grant-makers in Minnesota, died Sunday of undisclosed causes at her home in Wayzata, Minn.

Binger ran the McKnight Foundation, a private philanthropy that has given away millions of dollars to numerous causes, primarily in Minnesota.

Her father, William L. McKnight, served 37 years as president or chairman of the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co. and started the foundation in 1953. In 1974, four years before his death, he turned it over to his daughter.

During her 14-year tenure, assets grew from less than $8 million to nearly $800 million, and the foundation donated $235 million. Today, it ranks as the 24th-largest foundation in the United States and funds programs such as scientific research, the arts and low-income housing.

Binger, whose personal fortune was recently estimated by Forbes magazine at $770 million, also made small grants, many to needy people she read about in the newspaper.

She and her husband, James H. Binger, the former chairman of Honeywell Inc., owned an award-winning Florida racehorse farm, started by her father; and five Broadway theaters, one of which is named for her.