The Jeffrey Family has been instrumental in the establishment of Bexley and our Bexley Community Foundation. We are excited to share a $150,000 gift from the Tad & Nancy Jeffrey Fund of The Columbus Foundation was received to help the Foundation achieve the Year of the Parks campaign goal. Robert (Tad) H. Jeffrey II was a Founding Director of the Bexley Community Foundation and the first recipient of our Cornerstone Award for Philanthropy and Service. Tad & Nancy Jeffrey’s children awarded the generous donation on their parents’ behalf.

Anne Jeffrey Wright noted, “Dad took great satisfaction from seeing his grandfather’s home and beautiful grounds be enjoyed by the citizens of Bexley. As regular users of Bexley’s parks, walkers in Jeffrey Woods and bikers and paddlers along Alum Creek, our parents would be thrilled to witness this expansion of green space across Bexley. It was our honor to be their representatives and play a role in Bexley’s Year of the Parks campaign on their behalf.”

Tad grew up in Bexley and attended the Bexley Public Schools before graduating from Columbus Academy, Williams College and Harvard Business School. In 1956, he returned home with his wife Nancy. Tad and Nancy raised their four children in Bexley, where members of the Jeffrey family have lived for nearly 120 years. As a child, Tad played at his grandparents’ home on North Parkview. Since the property was given to the City of Bexley in 1941, Jeffrey Mansion and Park have played a role in the life of every Bexley resident. A highly respected businessman, investor, community leader and philanthropist, Tad always made time for Bexley, serving on the citizen group that built the original Bexley pool, as well as on the boards of Columbus School for Girls, Capital University, and our Foundation. Nancy was also involved in a significant number of local organizations and served as the first woman president of the United Way of Central Ohio, founder of the Community Shelter Board and active with Ohio State University/Harding Hospital. She was known for confronting significant social issues, including homelessness and mental illness.

As announced at the end of 2023, the Bexley Community Foundation has passed its $500,000 goal for the City’s Year of the Parks projects. This marks the second successful Capital Campaign for the Bexley Community Foundation, having raised $1.75 million for the Jeffrey Mansion Expansion in 2020.

The Year of the Parks projects include enhancements to our outdoor spaces in all areas of Bexley including the addition of a pond and arboretum features at Commonwealth Park, a new outdoor reading room and update to the front of Bexley Public Library, addition of a splash pad at Schneider Park, a Bexley Dog Park, the Main Street trailhead, and so much more. These enhancements will join already completed projects such as the DGB Kindness Park next to the Drexel Theatre and fields at Commonwealth Park.

The Year of the Parks is several years in the making, a culmination of park planning and dreaming. And while this project is about parks, green spaces, and natural beauty, really, it’s about us…. about parks as a canvas to nurture and grow community and to strengthen the connections within and around our neighborhoods. All corners of Bexley will be touched by the initiative. Thank you to Tad and Nancy’s children, Anne Jeffrey Wright, Sally Jeffrey O’Neil, Betsy and Tom Balderston and Andy and Dorothy Jeffrey, for continuing your parent’s legacy in Bexley with this generous donation in their memory.