CHARLES T. GRIGSBY

1939 - 2021

GRIGSBY, Charles T. Community Development Champion Charles T. Grigsby, the youngest child of Hassie and Marshall Grigsby, passed away quietly at home on April 28, 2021. He was predeceased by four older sisters, Virginia Hamilton of Mattapan, Alice Cloud of Salt Lake City, Katherine Robinson and Marsha Anderson of Oakland. Chuck grew up on a family farm in Norwell, Massachusetts and obtained a full scholarship to Phillips Andover Academy where he was one of the first Black students. Only having enough money for one college application, he chose to apply to Harvard. Upon acceptance, he attended on a Navy ROTC scholarship majoring in French and Arabic. Following his graduation from Harvard in 1961, he was commissioned into the Navy as a lieutenant. While in the Navy he met and married Mary Magee with whom he had 2 children, Jimma and Taran. Upon their divorce Chuck raised them as a single parent. After his discharge from the Navy Chuck began his investing career by joining the State Department's Agency for International Development. From there he went to BankBoston as their only Black International Loan Officer. Upon leaving the bank, he ran the only Minority Enterprise Small Business Investment Company in Massachusetts. While there he was appointed to the State Board of Education by then Governor Francis Sargent. After one term on the Board, he was elected Chair in the midst of Boston's school desegregation. At this time he was recruited to run Massachusetts Community Development Finance Corporation which was focused on developing affordable housing as well as financing minority owned small business. He left CDFC to purchase and run a Boston based architectural millwork company which at one time employed 200. Unfortunately Scott & Duncan was a victim of the construction stoppage in the 1992 downturn and had to shut its doors. Chuck was then recruited by Tom Menino to supervise construction of the Boston police headquarters and then to run the Department of Neighborhood Development. From there he became Senior VP of the Massachusetts Life Initiative from which he retired for the first time. While he was on the board of the first socially responsible investment company, he was recruited out of retirement to be interim president of Trillium Asset Management, while they searched for a permanent CEO. He then retired a second time. In retirement, he was asked by Governor Patrick to join a team to merge two state financing entities. While in that process he was tapped to run the resulting organization, specializing in high risk lending to companies in Massachusetts who could not obtain financing elsewhere and were in danger of failing. He retired for the final time from there 5 years later. Throughout his career he believed in volunteer commitments, particularly if they supported those who were economically disadvantaged. Among others, they included Boston Private Bank and Trust, the Neighborhood House Charter School, Nuestra Communidad, the Neighborhood Health Plan HMO, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, and the Boston Society of Architects. Chuck jogged and played golf and tennis into his 80's. He was licensed in SCUBA diving and maintained a private pilot's license well into his 70's. To his last days, however, his most treasured experiences remained hosting Sunday dinner with his wife Beth Badger, daughter Jimma, son Taran, daughter-in-law Skadi and his greatly beloved grandson Felix, who all gathered weekly to enjoy a meal and the love of family and invited friends. He will never be replaced. Those who choose, can donate to the Family Nurturing Center or the Neighborhood House Charter School, both in Dorchester.

View the online memorial for Charles T. GRIGSBY