Egly was always looking out for the underdog

His last letter to the editor of the Quad-City Times was published Dec. 31, just a month before he died Sunday in home hospice. He was 85.

Egly's lifetime work was as the director/trustee of two Quad-City philanthropic foundations, always marshaling money toward the underserved and underrepresented. From 1979 to 1987, he was minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church, Davenport, and he was a tireless advocate for many social issues.

A quick review of Quad-City Times files shows Egly speaking up for acceptance of lesbians, gays, transgender and bisexual people in all facets of society, helping to create an emergency shelter for homeless teens, leading a Jewish Holocaust education committee and working to decriminalize assisted suicide.

He also was involved in Quad-City health initiatives, a fight to keep a gambling casino off the Davenport riverfront, welfare reform and a one-time anti-hate coalition.

Rabbi Henry Karp, of Temple Emanuel, Davenport, worked with Egly on early "In from the Cold" projects to raise money for the area's homeless.

"He was a profound warrior in the cause for social justice," Karp said. "He was a real force in our community for goodness and justice."

As the 27-year executive director of the Doris and Victor Day Foundation, of Rock Island, Egly directed millions of dollars in grants toward programs emphasizing human needs such as emergency assistance, affordable housing, legal aid, child care, job training, scholarships and education.

"He was always looking at programs and organizations in terms of how they would help the underserved and the underrepresented," said Dave Geenen, who has succeeded Egly as the foundation's director. Egly retired in 2014.

"That was most important to him. He cared for the underdog."

The foundation was founded in 1965 to fulfill the Days' vision of making Rock Island a better place, and through the years it also awarded grants toward the creation of Winnie's Place, an emergency shelter for women, and the Planned Parenthood clinic in Bettendorf.

Personally, Egly and his wife, Pat, were a force for stability in their east-central Davenport neighborhood, restoring a Queen Anne-style home at 7th and Iowa streets after their move to the Quad-Cities from Brooklyn in 1978.

Through the years, they bought and fixed up homes on their street to rent out as quality apartments, said Marion Meginnis, a friend of the Eglys.

"They did a wonderful thing, very quietly," she said.

Theirs was a blended family, and they also were parents to foster children.

Egly was a trustee for the Rauch Family Foundation, also in Rock Island. In 2014 he was named the city's honorary "Citizen of the Year." 

"He was a real voice of compassion and tolerance, especially at a time of such intolerance and anger out there," said Mark Schwiebert, former Rock Island mayor who served with Egly on the Rauch Foundation. "He was really a voice for our time."

Egly's reach extended across the entire Quad-Cities, even the nation.

He was a founding board member of the Quad-City Contributors Council, a private advisory panel that attempts to guide groups that want to raise money for a given project.

"He was a passionate leader and advocate for diversity, inclusiveness and the rights and needs of all those disadvantaged in the communities that he served," said Dana Waterman, director of the Contributors Council.

Egly also was instrumental in the current organization of the Community Foundation of the Great River Bend, a nonprofit that collaborates with individuals, families, nonprofits and corporations to shape the region's future through philanthropic partnerships.

"He was the one who suggested that the (former) Davenport Area Foundation change its name and serve a broader purpose," said Susan Skora, past director. "And he backed that up with a grant for operations in the early days of that effort."

Egly also tackled philanthropic challenges on the national scale, helping to establish the Association of Small Foundations. Today the Washington, D.C.-based group is known as Exponent Philanthropy, whose member foundations control a combined $71 billion in resources and make grants worth an estimated $4 billion annually.

"Last week Alan shared these words with family and friends," Henry Berman, current president of Exponent Philanthropy, wrote in an email. "'I've had a good life. I have loving friends and family. I hope that I made a dent in this world and that I have helped make it a better place.' "

"Alan made more than a dent," Berman wrote.