On Friday, October 29, 2021 at 7:30PM at the Toledo Museum of Art’s Peristyle Theater, the Toledo Symphony Orchestra (TSO) will present a memorial concert in honor of Richard “Dick” P. Anderson, Chairman Emeritus and former CEO of The Andersons, Inc. who passed away in March 2020. The TSO will perform some of Dick’s favorite works by Antonio Vivaldi, Aaron Copland, George Gershwin, and more to celebrate his legacy and long-standing relationship with the TSO. Tickets are on sale and available to the general public at toledosymphony.com or by calling the Box Office at 419.246.8000. All proceeds will benefit the Dick Anderson Memorial Endowment Fund at the Toledo Symphony.
“We are honored to partner with the Anderson family on this celebration of Dick Anderson’s love for music and his legacy of support for the Toledo Symphony and so many other great organizations in our community,” says Brett Loney, Director of Development for the Toledo Alliance for the Performing Arts.
“This concert is a special celebration of Dick Anderson’s love for music and the Toledo Symphony. So many organizations in our community were impacted by his generosity and his leadership, including the Toledo Symphony, where he was a long-time board member and served twice as board chair. We are grateful for the chance to partner with the Anderson family to honor his legacy with this performance.”
In his lifetime, Dick had come to love music and the orchestra. He considered the Toledo Symphony a priceless regional asset. He spent more than two decades serving on the TSO’s Board of Trustees, twice in the role of Charmain from 2003-2006 and 2011-2014. In 2011, Dick led the TSO to Carnegie Hall for the “Spring for Music” invitational festival. At that inaugural New York performance, a record-setting audience of people from across Northwest Ohio came out to support the orchestra.
“I first met Dick years ago at a Toledo Symphony concert,” says Zak Vassar, President & CEO of the Toledo Alliance for the Performing Arts. “He had just stepped down as CEO of the Andersons, and he told me that he was looking forward to driving his John Deere around home. To the end, Dick inspired me through his interest in music and careful questions, not to mention his obvious love for Fran and his family. Many strive to leave the world better than they found it, but Dick certainly did. His legacy in our community is impossible to replace, and we miss him dearly. We’re so proud to present this memorial concert in his name.”
His great pride in the work of the TSO fueled his ongoing devotion to raising funds to sustain its financial future. Dick’s leadership and fundraising efforts helped grow the TSO’s endowment. With the support of his family, The Andersons, Inc. Charitable Foundation, and other members of the community, the Dick Anderson Memorial Endowment has been established in his honor.
“Dick Anderson was an amazing leader for our Andersons’ employees, his family, and our entire community,” says Julie Payeff, Community Commitment Manager for The Andersons. “He led with deep care and concern for the success of the organization, the strength to give honest and direct feedback, and the grace to know when it was time to pass on his knowledge and guidance to others to take on the leadership role. We were truly blessed to have him as our President and CEO, Chairman, and Chairman Emeritus at The Andersons. Most importantly we were blessed by his love and friendship over the many years he was with us. I challenge this entire community to come out and join us for this concert – in-person or virtually – to honor a true hero, and the many arts organizations he loved so much. It’s our turn to give back and support our community as Dick Anderson encouraged us to do for so many years.”
HOW TO ATTEND:
What: Dick Anderson Memorial Concert
When: Friday, October 29, 2021, 7:30PM
Where: Toledo Museum of Art Peristyle Theater
Cost: Tickets start at $50.
More info: Visit the TSO Box Office at 1838 Parkwood Ave., call 419.246.8000, or toledosymphony.com.
For more information about the Dick Anderson Memorial Concert, please contact Vanessa Gardner, Director of Marketing & Communications for the Toledo Alliance for the Performing Arts—home of the Toledo Symphony and Toledo Ballet—at 419.418.0053 or vgardner@artstoledo.com.
ABOUT TOLEDO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
The Toledo Symphony Orchestra is a community-supported organization of professional musicians and teachers who deliver quality performance and music education for all.
Formed in 1943 as The Friends of Music and incorporated in 1951 as the Toledo Orchestra Association, Inc., the Toledo Symphony Orchestra (TSO) has grown from a core group of twenty-two part-time musicians to a regional orchestra that employs sixty-nine professional musicians who consider the Toledo Symphony their primary employer, as well as numerous extra players annually as repertoire demands.
On January 1, 2019, the Toledo Symphony and Toledo Ballet officially merged to form the Toledo Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA), a new non-profit organization dedicated to providing exceptional live music and dance performances and education for the region. This partnership promises to create new and invigorating programs, provide cost and revenue synergies in operations, and integrate the arts through shared educational missions.
The Toledo Symphony reaches more than 260,000 individuals annually through performances and education programs. The series concerts (Masterworks, Pops, Chamber, Mozart in the Afternoon, and Family Series) are the critical underpinning of the orchestra’s artistic mission and regularly draw people from 135 postal zip codes. Education programs, student performances, and community concerts are held in schools, neighborhood churches, performing arts centers, and community facilities throughout the region; many are offered at no charge or provided at a reduced fee to help expand participation.
