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Commitment to Education: Leading Through the Generations
A remembrance by David Miller
“The quality of the world in which our children grow up and in which they will live, whether that society is undemocratic, poverty-ridden, and crime-ridden, or whether it is prosperous, safe, and democratic – is going to depend on the quality of public education.” --
The community expressed its passion for creating a high-quality educational system in the Listening Campaign. Since its earliest days, The Denver Foundation has maintained a strong commitment to education. Today this commitment is expressed through the Community Grants Program, the dozens of scholarship programs created by donors and operated by the Foundation, and through generous grants from hundreds of donor-advised funds managed by The Denver Foundation. Education is the largest area of grantmaking for our donor advisors and has been for some time. Their passion for improving the community’s future is expressed most deeply in their support for our schools.
This tradition of giving carries back to previous generations. Two of the original Denver Foundation trustees, in 1925, were Emily Griffith and John Mullen, both of whom have schools named for them today.
Another outstanding leader in this area was former trustee Brad Butler. Brad was the Chairman and CEO of Procter and Gamble, and he and his wife Erna retired to Denver in the 1990s. He became a trustee at The Denver Foundation and helped found Bright Beginnings, which still thrives in Denver today. As we look at the future of The Denver Foundation’s investments in education, it is fitting to recall Brad’s passion and commitment to this cause, as well as to revisit his decadesold call to action. In a November 7, 1988 article in Fortune Magazine, a reporter wrote: “The low-profile, mild-mannered chairman…has become a trailblazing, pulpit-pounding crusader for reform in the public schools.”
In a 1985 speech to the Dayton, Ohio Business Education Group, Brad said: “I received as good an education as I have ever been able to buy for any of my children or grandchildren. That happened because a generation of Americans was willing to put public education high enough on its priority list that it got what it needed. … If we want this country to be what I think most of us want it to be for our children and grandchildren to live in as adults, then we had better get that priority back on top again. The quality of the world in which they grow up and in which they will live, whether that society is undemocratic, poverty-ridden, and crimeridden, or whether it is prosperous, safe, and democratic – is going to depend on the quality of public education.
”Remembering her father’s passion for education, Brad’s daughter Nancy Accetta wrote:
“‘Failure is not an option.’ That was the typically Brad Butler response to Paula Zahn’s question about the future of Bright Beginnings, posed at the end of her interview with him for CBS Weekend Report. Just days before his death in April of 1998, my dad summoned every shred of strength left in his cancer-ravaged body to make an emotional plea to the largest possible audience. With his jaw characteristically set, he told the country that, for reasons economic, social and, above all, human, we must turn our full attention to the nurturing of our children, beginning at birth.”
As I think of how prophetic Brad’s words have become, I am reminded ever more strongly of the commitment of The Denver Foundation to helping our community provide the best education for our children. We are honored to continue in the tradition of Brad Butler, Emily Griffith, John Mullen, and the hundreds of other community leaders who shape our legacy.
