Jack Anderson Obituary, Joyce Foundation Founding Board Member Has Died – Death Cause

Jack Anderson Obituary, Death – Jack Anderson, a founding Board member and previous Board Chair, passed away on May 22, 2023 at the age of 92, and the Joyce Foundation mourns his departure. Jack was 92 years old. Anderson is significantly accountable for the establishment of the organization’s goal, as well as the expansion of the organization into one of the largest philanthropies in the state of Illinois and a prominent steward of social and environmental programs in the Great Lakes area.

John T. “Jack” Anderson was one of the last links to Joyce Founder Beatrice Joyce Kean. He was a member of the United States Navy, a graduate of DePauw University and Harvard Law School, and he also served in the Navy. Kean, who was the lone heiress to a family business, established the foundation in 1948 with a modest gift of $2,000 to be used “for religious, charitable, scientific, literary, and educational purposes.”

Between the years 1984 and 1987, Anderson served as co-chair of the Joyce Board of Directors. From 1987 through 2011, he served as Board Chair, and he has been an emeritus director ever since. “The Foundation has suffered a devastating blow as a result of this. According to Ellen Alberding, President and Chief Executive Officer of Joyce, “Jack was our North Star, the architect of our vision and funding initiatives, and a great champion of issues impacting the Great Lakes region.” “He was a fantastic teacher. Because to his leadership and unwavering commitment to turning this organization into a formidable and enduring presence in the Great Lakes region and beyond, we will be eternally better off.

Kean was the person who started the charity. Anderson became a member of the Board of Directors of the Foundation in 1984 and was designated a trustee of Kean’s estate when she passed away in the early 1970s. At that time, more than one hundred million dollars were donated to the Foundation by Kean’s estate, making it the largest charitable organization in Illinois at the time.