 The Wallace Foundation began with the philanthropy of DeWitt and Lila Acheson Wallace, who together founded The Reader's Digest Association.Drawing on the money they earned from the magazine, which they launched in 1922, the Wallaces contributed to a wide assortment of artistic, cultural and youth-serving causes.They died in the 1980s (Dewitt Wallace in 1981, Lila Wallace in 1984), leaving much of their fortune to four private foundations they had created in their lifetimes.