Flood Victims' `Angel' Identified -- Donor Is Joan Kroc, Mcdonald's Heiress

GRAND FORKS, N.D. - Flood victims now know the name of their Angel: She's Joan Kroc, widow of the founder of McDonald's.

The anonymous donor once known only as Angel flew into Grand Forks for a tour of the flood-devastated cities she gave $15 million to rebuild.

A check of airport records showed that a Gulfstream IV jet registered to Kroc was refueled at the airport Saturday, the Grand Forks Herald reported today. Mayors of Grand Forks and East Grand Forks, Minn., said they gave the woman a tour but continued to identify her only as Angel.

Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., said reliable sources told him that Kroc was the mysterious donor, the newspaper reported, but Dorgan later denied having confirmed her identity.

Dorgan's press secretary, Barry Piatt, said today that Dorgan had told a reporter who brought up Kroc's name only that he had heard speculation that she was the "Angel."

In San Diego, Kroc's spokeswoman, Nancy Trestick, did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.

Kroc asked officials in April to distribute $2,000 to each family who suffered from the flood, which ravaged 90 percent of the cities. She requested that officials use a minimum of red tape and not reveal her name.

"She stated that the press should go to the people in need and not herself," said Lynn Stauss, mayor of East Grand Forks. "She didn't want to take away from their story."

Residents had nicknamed her "Angel."

In an attempt to keep her identity secret, Kroc left her jet and got into a van for her tour while still inside a hangar at the airport. Both mayors described her visit as emotional.

"It looks like a war zone with no bodies," Stauss quoted her as saying.

The mayors gave her letters from residents and gifts, including a sweatshirt that read, "I helped rebuild Grand Forks and East Grand Forks."

Kroc, widow of McDonald's Chairman Ray Kroc, was listed by Forbes magazine last year as the 68th-richest American. The magazine estimated her wealth at $1.7 billion. Fortune magazine ranked her 11th in a list of the nation's top 25 philanthropists, estimating her donations last year at $33 million.

The $15 million that Kroc gave flood victims was not enough for the 11,000 homeowners who applied for aid. Another anonymous corporate donor gave $5 million to be distributed at $1,000 per family, but some people will still be left out. The mayors said they did not ask Kroc for more money.