Jim and Marge Anderson have never been content with the status quo. “My default setting is to make things better,” Jim said. Marge shared their family’s unofficial motto: “leave it better than you found it.”
That tenet has informed nearly 60 years of marriage and community service. It’s how they approached their work, raised their four children and helped shape the region they’ve long called home. In recognition of their commitment to progress and compassion, United Way of Greater Cincinnati is proud to present the Tocqueville Award to Jim and Marge.
The couple first met as students at Vanderbilt University, forming an immediate connection built on long conversations about family, fairness and values. Those early talks revealed a shared understanding of what Jim called “emotional generosity,” an important shared trait for both from the earliest days of their relationship. “People think of generosity as money,” Marge said. “But it’s also being kind to your friends, being there for people.”
After Jim’s service in Vietnam, the couple chose to settle in Cincinnati — a city, as Jim put it, “big enough but manageable,” with the right mix of family and opportunity. It was also where their instinct for community connection would take root.
The Andersons view philanthropy as an opportunity to strengthen the bonds that connect neighbors, families and organizations across the region. “We’re all in this together,” Jim often said during his 13 years as CEO of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. He led the medical center through transformative growth, steered by a belief that progress requires partnership. “Whether it’s health care or the community,” he reflected, “it’s about improving experiences for families.”
Their moral convictions naturally drew the Andersons to United Way. Jim said, “it provides a level of discipline and management that we wouldn’t be able to individually, and a breadth of knowledge that we just don’t have.” Through its regional partnerships in education, financial stability and housing, he saw United Way as a path to help the community “advance together.”
Jim’s experience chairing United Way of Greater Cincinnati’s 2006 campaign reinforced that view. “I came away feeling really good about the comprehensiveness of the (organization’s) work,” he said. “You see how thoughtfully it adapts as needs change.” Adaptability in support of critical needs, stability and long-term mobility embodies United Way’s role today.
The family’s commitment to community also showed up in their parenting. When their four children were young, the family volunteered together, serving meals to people in need. Marge recalled how meaningful it was for their kids to see another side of the city: “It helped them understand that not everyone lives like we do. You didn’t have to lecture generosity; you just lived it.”
Faith has been another core belief. As a Lutheran pastor, Marge sees service as an essential expression of gratitude. “Life would not have meaning for me if I didn’t have that opportunity to give back,” she said, encouraging others to “have confidence that you have gifts worth sharing.”
Both Jim and Marge acknowledged challenges facing the region — economic strain, inequity, isolation — yet they remain hopeful about what’s possible when people act compassionately. “You can’t help but feel good,” Jim said, “when you see so many doing good work, not looking for credit other than meeting needs as they perceive them, and with courage and action and resolve. Finding a way to multiply that dynamic is really important, and I think United Way does that.”
The Andersons’ story is one of partnerships — in marriage, in mission and in the belief that community thrives when generosity becomes habit. Their call to action — take risks to make the world a better place: “Do what you can, where you are, with what you have,” Jim said, “but above all, do.”
For Jim and Marge Anderson, leaving things better than they found them has never been a slogan. It’s a lifelong promise — to their city, their neighbors and each other.
