Editorial: Morris offered an inspiring example of community service, compassion

There’s probably never been a bigger cheerleader for the city of Indianapolis than Jim Morris. The former deputy mayor who led crucial institutions like the Lilly Endowment Inc., Indianapolis Water Co. and the World Food Programme is at least in part responsible for Unigov, the Indiana Sports Corp., the city’s sports strategy, Market Square Arena, the Hoosier Dome and IUPUI (which this month separated into Indiana University Indianapolis and Purdue University in Indianapolis).

While many of those signature accomplishments occurred earlier in Morris’ career, he continued throughout his life to serve as a convener of people aiming to solve central Indiana’s biggest problems. And so it was no surprise that, after his death on July 12, community leaders held up Morris as an example of how we can all be more impactful, compassionate and intentional residents of our great city and state.

“We all have Jim Morris to thank for being such a relentless positive force and builder of our capital city into the international destination it is today,” Gov. Eric Holcomb said after the announcement that Morris, 81, had died. “Everyone could learn from Jim’s wisdom, giant heart for humanity and appetite for the arts.”

And said Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett: “May we honor Jim’s legacy by striving to lead our lives like he did—with compassion, humanity and the spirit of service in everything we do.”

Of course, Morris, who most recently was serving as vice chair of Pacers Sports & Entertainment, has been remembered for all the accomplishments that are easy to point to: sports stadiums, economic strategies and governance changes. But Morris was also about building the psychology of the city—helping Indianapolis and its leaders develop confidence in their ability to make bold moves and strive for bigger things.

What’s striking about the words people have used to describe Morris is that they are focused on the way he inspired them to effect change, the skills he used to connect people and foster relationships, and the compassion he showed for people in all walks of life.

“Beyond Jim’s truly amazing record of selfless service and transformative accomplishments, I’ll most remember his kindness, civility and relentless efforts to bring all kinds of different people together,” said Fred Glass, CEO of Gleaners and former athletic director at Indiana University, where Morris served on the board on and off for decades.

Morris left behind an army of people who have been influenced by his life and his work. And so while he is no longer here to be the city’s great convener, hundreds of others who learned from him have increasingly been stepping into that role.

Indianapolis and central Indiana need those leaders now as much as we did in the 1960s and 1970s, when Morris was getting started in his career and beginning to push for changes that would impact the region for decades.

Jim Morris provided a road map for how we can all step up for our community. We can honor him by following through on his example.•

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