On Dec. 16, 1988, the Virginia Merrill Bloedel Hearing Research Center was established through a $7 million gift from Prentice Bloedel in honor of his wife. Virginia Merrill Bloedel had been the victim of progressive hearing loss until her death in 1989.

Prentice Bloedel, a leader of the timber industry, managed his family’s far-flung timber empire and led the industry’s forest-conservation efforts. Bloedel guided the firm into a merger with H. R. MacMillan Export Co., which became the giant MacMillan Bloedel.  Prentice and Virginia Bloedel were important patrons of the arts in Seattle, a tradition carried on by their daughter Virginia Wright.