Mari Oyanagi Eggum

For twenty years Mari was employed as the Foundation Administrator of the Elmer L. & Eleanor J. Andersen Foundation and the Trillium Family Foundation and now, in retirement, serves as a trustee for both foundations.  

Currently, she also serves as a board member and officer for the Ramsey County Historical Society and as a volunteer for the Junior League of Saint Paul, Thursday Club and the New Century Club Saint Paul.  In the past she has served as President of the Junior League of Saint Paul, President of the Ripley Memorial Foundation, a fund of the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota, and as a volunteer, board member and officer for other community organizations.  

Many years ago, with undergraduate and graduate degrees in mathematics education from the University of Minnesota, she was a teacher in the Columbia Heights School District and the Anoka-Hennepin School District, and an instructor at the University of Minnesota and Inver Hills Community College.

In addition to serving as a community volunteer, she enjoys spending time with friends and family (especially her granddaughters, Mari and Zuri!), reading, travel, hiking and origami. 

Favorite quote: “My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.”  

-Maya Angelou