Twenty-seven years after the death of Newport stock broker and avid tennis player Henry G. Heffernan, The Rhode Island Foundation realized the final intent of his will. In the interim, the will provided a trust for the benefit of his stepmother, Emily C. Heffernan. The trust terminated upon her death in February 1998 at the age of 98.

Henry Heffernan was, at the time of his death in 1971 at the age of 44, a stockbroker with Kidder Peabody & Co. and was active in the Newport Chapter of the American Red Cross. He also was chairman of the executive committee of the Newport Casino and secretary-treasurer of the Tennis Hall of Fame. Among the 13 grass courts at the Hall of Fame is the Heffernan Memorial Court, which Providence Journal Sports Writer Mike Szostak referred to recently as "one of the prettiest tennis settings in the land."

A native of Newport and a bachelor, Heffernan provided for many Newport institutions through his will, but one important provision he made was to create a trust that cared for his stepmother, Emily C. Heffernan, for the remainder of her life. With Mrs. Heffernan’s death in February 1998 at the age of 98, and thus the termination of the trust, Henry Heffernan’s second goal was attained: to leave a permanent legacy to the people of Rhode Island by establishing an unrestricted endowment at The Rhode Island Foundation.