"You Get Praise For Serving Others," Not Flashing Wealth — Sheraton Hotels And Perdue Farms Heiress Sold Her $1.2 Million Ring For Ukraine Aid

"You get praise for serving others," not flashing wealth, author‑philanthropist and double heiress Mitzi Perdue told Fortune recently. The 84‑year‑old's remark framed a life spent cutting costs, not ribbons, despite holdings in Sheraton Hotels and poultry producer Perdue Farms. 

Her modest habits—economy seats, cobbler‑repaired shoes—contrast with the $1.2 million emerald ring she recently sold to bankroll humanitarian aid for civilians enduring relentless shellfire in Ukraine on the frontlines.

Frugal Roots Shape Two Empires

Sheraton began in 1937 when Ernest Henderson and Robert Moore bought a hotel in Springfield, Massachusetts. The chain grew until Marriott International (NASDAQ: MAR) acquired Sheraton parent company Starwood Hotels & Resorts for $12.2 billion in 2016. 

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Perdue inherited that stake at 26. In 1988 she wed Frank Perdue, whose privately held Perdue Farms posted $9.83 billion in annual sales as of February, according to its website. 

Yet family rules stressed restraint. "Nobody wins points for wearing designer clothes," she told Fortune. Perdue still rides the subway and rents an apartment in Salisbury, Maryland, alongside nurses and police officers. "If you're always going on private jets, what inkling do you have about the real world?" she added.

Auction Gem Funds Ukraine Relief

Perdue's thrift turned dramatic in 2022, when she consigned a 5.27‑carat emerald ring—cut from the 1622 Atocha shipwreck off Florida to Sotheby's Magnificent Jewels sale. The lot, estimated at $70,000, vaulted to $1.2 million. 

"I … know my late husband, Frank Perdue, would share my desire to help those in dire need," she told Solitaire International, the online magazine of India's Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council. 

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The gem had doubled as her engagement ring since 1988, a reminder of her husband's maritime‑treasure hobby. Proceeds purchased generators, winter clothing and medical kits requested by the mayors of Kyiv and Lviv, Ukraine. 

Service Mindset Powers Ongoing Aid

UNHCR counts 12.7 million Ukrainians needing help and 3.6 million still displaced inside the country. Perdue now backs HALO Trust mine‑clearance missions, funds winter cash grants, and pays travel costs for freelance reporters. 

She told Bold Journey magazine that the Mental Health Group, a nonprofit she co-founded with Clara Kaluderovic, is piloting an AI-powered trauma therapy chatbot. The tool, developed with psychologists in Lviv, is designed to offer 24-hour counseling in Ukrainian. "If you want to be happy, think what you can do for somebody else," she told Fortune.

UNHCR's Representative in Ukraine, Karolina Lindholm Billing, told the Associated Press that such private donations are vital as drone strikes batter energy grids. She said the agency is working with the Ukrainian government on a “winter response plan” that includes cash support for families to pay for heating, emergency generators and insulation.

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