Advocating for access: ‘The journey continues’
Larry Thomas, BSBA ’77
By Ginger O’Donnell
Music brought Larry Thomas, BSBA ’77, to WashU — the Vicksburg, Mississippi, native became smitten with the campus after staying on the South 40 during a high school band competition. Personal connections and mentors helped him succeed. And passion for greater access to a WashU education, among other joys, keeps him engaged in a lifelong relationship with the university.
This winter, having recently concluded his stint as a co-chair of Make Way: Our Student Initiative, Thomas agreed to extend his WashU leadership and advocacy as the fourth co-chair of With You: The WashU Campaign, joining Board Chair Andy Bursky, AB ’78, BS ’78, MS ’78, and Trustees Alicia McDonnell, JD ’95, and Cash Nickerson, JD ’85, MBA ’93, JSD ’25, in that role.
“There’s a lot to be proud of about WashU’s mission, and certainly one of those things is the university’s commitment to greater access,” Thomas says. “Make Way was a big champion for that. And it rolls right into With You. So when offered the opportunity to step in and work alongside Alicia and Cash and Andy, I saw it as a chance to make good on that commitment.”
As one of the longest serving members of Washington University’s Board of Trustees and a former leader at Edward Jones for roughly 40 years — he joined the company as a WashU intern — Thomas knows a thing or two about staying power. Now and always, he wants WashU to remain at the top of its game. “You always want to be among the best,” he says. “Otherwise, why do it? That’s my real interest in helping to shape the place — to help WashU be at its best.”
For Thomas, this means fostering access to accept the brightest, most promising students solely based on their intellect and talents, not their ability to pay. He is invigorated by the university’s recent commitments toward this goal in recent years, especially the 2021 need-blind undergraduate admissions policy that removed financial status entirely from the student selection process. “Going need-blind was a whopping win,” he says. “It allows us to attract students who perhaps would have said no before.”
“I came to WashU as a 17-year-old. I’ve gone on to build a career and made many, many friends along the way — in St. Louis and around the world. None of the success in my adult life would have been possible without the foundation I gained at WashU.”
Larry Thomas, BSBA ’77
Indeed, Thomas has focused his WashU philanthropy on cultivating student excellence through scholarships since making his first gift to that area in 1986. A former scholarship recipient himself, he has helped to fund the education of well over 50 students in total. In addition to establishing three separate named scholarships, he co-founded a scholarship initiative in 2004 with Louis Hutt, BSBA ’76, and Wendell Jones, MBA ’78, called “The Tie That Binds,” which challenges Black alumni to support bright and motivated students at WashU. He is also a generous contributor to the McLeod Scholars program, named in honor of the late James E. McLeod, former dean of Arts & Sciences.
Among the many WashU alumni who have benefited from Thomas’ generosity is Sabrina McGirt, BSBA ’92, MBA ’99. He recruited her to join Edward Jones after supporting her at Olin Business School. That set her up to lead a distinguished, decades-long career at American Express, where she currently serves as vice president of account development. Today, McGirt pays her own success forward as a WashU parent. Her daughter, Elise Delia McGirt, Class of 2029, is also pursuing a bachelor’s degree at Olin.
Another example is Kelli P. Washington, BSBA ’94, who attended WashU Olin Business on a full-tuition scholarship sponsored by Thomas. He mentored her and also helped her land a first job at Edward Jones. From there, she, too, built a thriving career in business. She currently serves as the chief investment officer of the California Endowment, a private foundation based in Los Angeles that seeks to improve health and racial equity across the state. In 2021, Washington established an annual scholarship in Thomas’ name for undergraduates with financial need, bringing the virtuous cycle of support full circle. Thomas deflects the recognition and praise. “When I look at what Kelli’s achieved, it’s really breathtaking,” he says. “It all started with the small part I played in terms of scholarship support. Kelli took that and built a remarkable career, which makes all of us at WashU very, very proud.”
None of Thomas’ contributions to the university could be considered small, however, including his immense generosity of time and talent. A tireless volunteer leader beyond Make Way, he remains a longtime member of the Olin Business School National Council. Over the years, he also has chaired class reunions, served as a leader in the national Black Alumni Council, and formerly chaired the Alumni Board of Governors, among numerous other positions.
But when asked how he would characterize his WashU legacy, his emphasis is on the future. And it’s a future informed by a deep, abundant sense of gratitude, a strong desire to pay that forward, but perhaps, even most strikingly, a sense of optimism and joy about continuing to engage with the university in new and evolving ways as an alumnus.
“I came to WashU as a 17-year-old,” he says. “I’ve gone on to build a career and made many, many friends along the way — in St. Louis and around the world. None of the success in my adult life would have been possible without the foundation I gained at WashU. Today, it continues with my contributions as a volunteer, as a trustee, as a guidepost for other students, and now, as a co-chair of the With You campaign. It’s a lifelong journey, and the journey continues.”
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