Jay and Marilyn Sarles
/SOURCE OF WEALTH: FleetBoston Financial
FUNDING AREAS: Environmental Protection, Global Health & Development
OVERVIEW: Jay and Marilyn Sarles founded the Eaglemere Foundation, which supports environmental protection and global health and development. The family funds organizations large and small, global and local, that work toward those ends. According to available tax filings, the foundation awarded around $890,000 in grants in 2018.
BACKGROUND: Jay Sarles graduated with a B.A. from Amherst College. He joined FleetBoston Financial where he worked for nearly four decades, rising to vice chairman and chief administrative officer. He was also vice chairman of Bank of America Corporation.
ISSUES:
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION: The Sarles are heavily involved in the environmental conservation community. They developed an interest in the outdoors as newlyweds. Marilyn was vice chair of the Massachusetts board of trustees at the Nature Conservancy and is currently a board member. A number of Eaglemere’s grants support conservation causes—often, large national and international organizations like the World Wildlife Fund or Nature Conservancy. Other grantees include Charles River Watershed Association, Environmental Defense Fund, Earthjustice, Alaska Conservation Foundation, and Greater Yellowstone Coalition.
The couple’s son, Dan, serves as executive director of Eaglemere and has pushed the foundation to support freshwater protection and restoration, bio-mimicry solutions, and global climate change initiatives.
GLOBAL HEALTH & DEVELOPMENT: Eaglemere’s work in this area focuses on “crisis medicine, vaccinations and streamlined access to medical care,” as well as alleviating poverty, illuminating injustice and expanding economic opportunities. Note that Marilyn Sarles is an M.D. Grantees include Oxfam (and its work in Latin America) and Doctors Without Borders.
The couple have supported science and medical research at several prominent Northeastern colleges. Amherst and Mt. Holyoke house the Sarles Science Research Fund and the Marilyn Dawson Sarles, M.D. Professor of Life Sciences and Professor of Chemistry, respectively. The couple also created the Sarles Scholarship Fund for Medical Education at Brown, where Marilyn got her M.D. degree. At Tufts, meanwhile, the couple made a $100,000 gift to help establish a Master of Science in Conservation Medicine at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine.
LOOKING FORWARD: Expect the Sarles family to continue to strongly support their interest areas.
CONTACT:
The foundation does not accept unsolicited requests for funding or grant applications. It does, however, encourage grantseekers to reach out to executive director Dan Sarles (dgsarles@eaglemere.org) for more information and to discuss possible funding.
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