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Mrs. Yawkey's husband, Tom, became president of the Boston Red Sox in 1933, and was the sole owner of the team for 44 seasons, longer than anyone in baseball history.
Mrs. Yawkey was chairwoman of the board of directors of the JRY Corporation , the majority owner and general partner of the Red Sox. She became president of the club following her husband Tom’s death in 1976. In addition to attending virtually every home game, Mrs. Yawkey actively participated along with other JRY Corporation officers in management issues involving the team.
During World War II Mrs. Yawkey was active with the Red Cross. She had a long association with New England's famed Jimmy Fund/Dana-Farber Cancer Institute , as a Trustee and for a period as Chair of the Board. She was active in Tara Hall Home and School for Boys in South Carolina, and she was instrumental in the establishment of the Family Inn in Brookline, MassachusettsBrookline is a census-designated place and town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts. It borders Newton (part of Middlesex County) on the southwest and Boston (part of Suffolk County) in all other directions, so it is not actually contiguous with any other pa, a temporary home for families of patients undergoing transplant surgery in Boston area hospitals. She was also a Trustee of Yawkey Foundation I which supports the 21,000 acre (85 km²) Tom Yawkey Wildlife Center , willed by her late husband, a dedicated conservationist, to the South Carolina Heritage Trust .
A firm believer in equal opportunity, Mrs. Yawkey and the Yawkey Foundations established scholarship funds at Yale UniversityYale University is a private university in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third oldest American collegiate institution (or fourth, if St. John's College, Annapolis is included) and one of the most prestigious in the world. The Univer, Boston CollegeBoston College or B. for short, is a prestigious post-secondary educational institution located partly in Newton but mostly in Chestnut Hill, a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts. Despite its name, Boston College is actually a fully accredited university, no, and Boston College High SchoolIn 1863, the Massachusetts House and Senate passed an Act to incorporate Boston College High School, marking the beginning of a long and illustrious history for the school. Twenty two pioneering students ranging in age from 11 to 16 years of age enrolled, was a supporter of the Jackie Robinson Scholarship Program , and supported several other educational institutions to provide minority students and others with scholarship aid. Numerous humanitarian, educational, cultural and athletic activities, including the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston , the Boston Park League , Boston Pops and Symphony OrchestrasThe Boston Pops Orchestra was founded in 1885 as a subsection of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In 1881, Henry Lee Higginson, the founder of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, wrote of his wish to present in Boston "concerts of a lighter kind of music. The Bo, Massachusetts General Hospitaledu/about/overview., John F. Kennedy Library , University of MassachusettsThe University of Massachusetts (commonly referred to as UMass is the five-campus public university system of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The five campuses are UMass Amherst, UMass Boston, UMass Dartmouth, UMass Lowell, and the UMass Medical School, New England Aquarium , and the Boston Food Bank were also supported by Mrs. Yawkey and the Yawkey Foundations.
Mrs. Yawkey was a Director of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, holding the distinction of being the first woman ever elected to serve on the board of that baseball shrine. In 1991, the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce inducted Mrs. Yawkey into the Academy of Distinguished Bostonians .
Jean R. Yawkey died in Boston, Massachusetts at the age of 83.
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