Jim’s heart for people shaped his work, his giving, and the legacy he leaves behind
Jim Siegmann used to say he had the best job in the world.
Jim and LaRayne Siegmann loved each other, their family, and this community.
As a program officer for the Community Foundation of Elkhart County, he met with people who worked at nonprofits in Elkhart County, constantly learning about them, but also supporting them.
He’d been a printer, owning and operating Siegmann Printing Co. from 1967 to 2003 and also Impressions, Inc. From a shop along Main Street in Goshen, he was in a service business and then he transitioned to the Community Foundation for a decade in the 2000s. Even after retiring, he remained a close friend of the Community Foundation as part of its Foundation Relations Committee.
Siegmann died at the age of 78 on December 19, 2024, shortly after entering Hospice care. The love of his life, LaRayne, had died unexpectedly in 2018, after 45 years of marriage to Jim. Their two twin sons, Jason and A.J., are working on the estate, as well as that of Jim’s sister who died near the same time as him.
They and countless others in this community miss their parents, but also remember fondly all that they learned and experienced with them. Jim mentored and even ministered to dozens of people over cups of coffee, lunches, or craft beer as he regularly met with others, including some of the county’s powerful leaders. But he maintained confidentiality in those conversations. “He was not in the habit of being at a Christmas party or something and name- dropping,” says Jason.
Elkhart Mayor Rod Roberson met regularly with him over a number of years. “Jim Siegmann was a very unique person,” says Roberson. “He loved our community and valued relationships. His investment in our relationship helped increase my confidence in Elkhart’s future and re-energized my own commitment to it.”
“He was extraordinarily wise in terms of how he invested and how he reinvested in the business and how he grew it.”
A.J. SIEGMANN, Son of Jim Siegmann
Siegmann had graduated from Goshen High School and got a bachelor’s degree in printing management from Western Michigan University. He returned home at the age of 21 to take over the family printing business after his father died. He was active in the community, including First English Lutheran Church (now Faith Lutheran) and the Rotary Club of Goshen.
He grew the business, even purchasing other printing businesses, but in the early 2000s the printing business was changing because the internet was changing how information moved in the world. Jim saw that and sold it. “He was extraordinarily wise in terms of how he invested and how he reinvested in the business and how he grew it,” says A.J. “But it was a really tough business to be in, really tough.”
A couple years later, Jim joined the Community Foundation, which was growing since its founding in 1989. He was one of five staff members and was its only program officer. Assets started to grow, as did the amount of grantmaking. The foundation’s total assets were nearly $50 million by 2011, shortly before a large gift shifted its trajectory.
He was, in many ways, the heart of the organization. He loved the work. “I would argue that he liked it better than printing, that he loved what he did and valued it more in the long run,” says Jason. “He really loved his time at the foundation. And, you know, it was, it was such a good match.”
The Siegmann family enjoyed traveling together and spending time as a family in Michigan. From left are Jason, LaRayne, Jim, and A.J.
Even after he retired, he continued to support the foundation and mentored a number of people who worked there, including President Pete McCown. “Jim was a dear friend who was always a steady sounding board and gracious guide. I am so grateful for all he gave the foundation, our community and me personally. I miss him dearly,” says McCown.
Siegmann was kind and professional. He had lived and taught that in his first career and his second. “I still train my people to answer the phone the way dad trained his people to answer the phone,” says A.J. “I’ve toned this down a bit, but what he used to say is, ‘I want the person on the other end of the line to be just a little concerned that you’re going to come through the phone and kiss him.’”
He used a lifetime of building relationships and friendships in his work. What was already a huge, generous heart grew even larger. “One of the things about the foundation and why he valued it so much is it did change his perspective in a lot of ways. He and I talked quite a bit about this. I think what he became that was so unique among 70-year-olds was more open-minded, as opposed to more closed-minded, and more set in your ways.”
At the same time, his physical heart was starting to fail. He was fit, but had an episode in the early 2000s and dealt with heart issues until his death. Few people knew because of how little he discussed it, much less complained about it. He just continued to live joyfully, vacationing with his family in Watervale, Michigan, and visiting his sons and nine grandchildren when he could.
He continued to teach others, including how to give. “He was very good at displaying and modeling that generosity,” says Jason.
He gave to people in practical ways with time and money. With LaRayne, they had always supported their church and organizations they valued.
“Jim was a dear friend who was always a steady sounding board and gracious guide. I am so grateful for all he gave the foundation, our community and me personally.”
PETE McCOWN, President of the Community Foundation of Elkhart County
All of that was actively modeling generosity, according to the sons.
Now as they manage the estate, because their parents planned ahead, they have a map for how to leave a legacy. “He set things up, when mom was still alive, wanting to have a good clarity of what they wanted to support in a significant way with their estate,” says Jason.
Their legacy gift to the Community Foundation was divided four ways: to the Fund for Elkhart County, which supports Community Investment Grants; The Window endowment; and creates new endowments for Maple City Health Care Center and Faith Lutheran Church of Goshen.
Those three nonprofits will receive a steady stream of support thanks to the Siegmanns’ generosity.
