Preserving Vermont’s cultural heritage, advancing cancer research, and strengthening communities are all part of Marna Olsen Davis’s ’72 lifelong commitment to giving back.
Marna Olsen Davis ’72 believes in giving back to her community—hence she and her husband, Chuck Davis, are focusing their gifts on Vermont causes.
For the past 16 years, that stewardship has taken the form of service on the board of Shelburne Museum, one of Vermont’s cultural treasures. Set on 45 acres along the shores of Lake Champlain, the museum preserves everything from historic New England buildings and even a steamship to one of the country’s finest collections of Impressionist paintings.
For Davis, the museum felt like a natural fit. She was introduced to the museum many years ago by her sister-in-law, Cheryl Mead, who was a docent there. As well, Davis’ father-in-law was a bartender on the Ticonderoga ferry boat (now installed at the museum) when it traversed Lake Champlain.
Today, she’s helping guide the museum through an ambitious new chapter: the creation of a permanent home for an extraordinary collection of Native American art and artifacts. Working alongside the director, Tom Denenberg, and a national team of experts—including St. Lawrence’s Associate Professor of History Melissane Schrems, who teaches in the University’s Native American and Indigenous Studies program—the museum is thoughtfully shaping a space that honors Indigenous traditions and perspectives.
Davis’s commitment to Vermont extends well beyond the museum. In recent years, she and her husband have placed a special emphasis on supporting Vermont through the Chuck & Marna Davis Foundation, and they’ve expanded the foundation’s support for organizations that strengthen Vermont’s cultural, educational, and civic life.
That philosophy has also guided the family’s commitment to the Fibrolamellar Cancer Foundation, established by their late son, Tucker, before his death from the rare cancer at age 28. Today, Davis serves as co-chair of the foundation, which has become the world’s leading private funder of fibrolamellar research, supporting scientists in their search for better treatments and, ultimately, a cure.
In 2018, St. Lawrence recognized Davis with the Sol Feinstone Humanitarian Award, honoring a lifetime of service that continues to grow.
And more than five decades after she graduated, Davis is still close with a group of classmates she met during her freshman year—including the women who helped transform their national sorority into the local Kappa Delta Sigma after the SLU sisterhood offered membership to an Asian student despite the national organization’s objections. Davis credits St. Lawrence for standing firmly behind the sisterhood’s decision.
Davis is pleased to find so many Laurentians in the Champlain Valley and is also proud of having so many family members who have become Laurentians.
Six of the friends she made freshman year now gather regularly over Zoom for a book club, continuing their connection from various points around the country.
“We all bring something different but equally valuable to the table,” she says. “It’s those relationships that keep me anchored to St. Lawrence and the wonderful experience I had there.”
