Jim Arden, Founder

Jim Arden, for whom the foundation is named, was a science teacher at Greenwich Country Day School for thirty-one years. One of his passions has been and continues to be the continent of Africa. During the last fifteen years of his tenure, Jim organized trips to Africa for his students and their families, predominantly to Botswana and Tanzania. These safaris held special meaning for the participants and deep personal relationships were formed over the years. Upon his retirement in the spring of 2001, a host of families and friends encouraged Jim to continue his work. The Jim Arden Foundation was born!

Jim embarked on his first trip to Africa more than 20 years ago. On that trip Jim spent three days in Johannesburg, South Africa on his way to Botswana where he stayed for about two weeks. Though his stay in Africa was brief, Jim had the opportunity to get an inside view within this confused and frightened country. He visited an unusual school where affluent whites, with some risk to themselves, sent their children to school with needy blacks. He attended an anti-apartheid rally. The complexities of the South African political situation became a reality for Jim.

Since that time, Jim has visited the majestic continent of Africa more than 30 times, each time affecting his view of the world. He enthusiastically shared his unique experiences with his students, opening their eyes to the struggle of children very different from themselves. Jim had an honest desire to help his students grow out of themselves toward a more humane concern for global conditions. In Jim’s classroom, students got more than textbook material, they received a piece of the life of their instructor. His stories of Africa captured the imagination of his students and enhanced an already dynamic curriculum of zoology in the classroom at GCDS.

Throughout the years, Jim has become a mentor to many and has taken on almost mythic proportions to some. After all, thanks to his dedicated weight training, he is outstandingly muscular (certain to elicit admiration from teenagers) and then there are all those snakes and tarantulas, which he keeps at home and brings to class. But Jim is unique in far more subtle ways than these. He has a deep and abiding interest in wildlife in all forms, a strong sense of preservation of life and goods, and an honest desire to help our children grow out of themselves toward a more humane concern for global conditions. With dignity and quiet power, Jim Arden shaped the adult life of a generation of Country Day students. Through the soundness of his character and moral vision, he has influenced their ideals and the very course of their lives.