Our Story

The Marie Lamfrom Charitable Foundation was established in 1998 by Marie’s family to honor her lifelong commitment to helping others, particularly children in need. Her life story serves as an example of how resilience, determination, and kindness can leave a legacy that grows with each generation.

Marie’s life spanned two world wars, one that inspired her to become a nurse, and another that uprooted her family from Nazi Germany to Portland, Oregon. During her 86 years, she nurtured her patients, her children, her community, and her family business, which grew into one of America’s biggest apparel success stories: Columbia Sportswear.

Born in Germany in 1896, Marie was one of many young people who felt the need to help the war effort during World War I. She signed up to be a nurse before her 18th birthday and was sent to the Russian front with little to no training. The challenges she faced inspired her to go to nursing school, and her subsequent work at a children’s hospital sparked a passion that would shape her life.

By 1937, Marie had married Paul Lamfrom and was mother to three daughters. As Jews in Nazi Germany, their daily lives had become terrifying and they feared for the future of their family and their business, which was the largest shirt factory in the country. When their business was “aryanized” and taken away from them, the Lamfroms made the brave decision to pack up their lives and flee to Portland, Oregon. Marie’s daughter Gert recalled that her grandmother, Marie’s mother-in-law, stayed behind and was killed in a concentration camp.

Upon arriving to Portland, Marie enrolled her young daughters in school and within a year she was asked to serve with the Girl Scouts as an assistant Brownie leader. “I couldn’t believe it,” she recalled years later. “After so many years of repression, suddenly we were being welcomed and sought out. I couldn’t believe that someone was actually asking a favor from me.”  And so, Marie resumed her role of serving the community and helping children thrive. “The Girl Scouts were so nice accepting me, a stranger, when my own country did not,” she explained. “I wanted to give back what they gave me.” 

 As her association with Girl Scouts grew over the years, Marie (or “Bluebird” as the girls nicknamed her) focused on troops in children’s hospitals where medically fragile girls needed support the most. What made her work with these girls remarkable was that she focused on teaching them to help others. “While most of us would see these kids as deserving of love and attention, Marie wanted more for them,” says her granddaughter Sally Bany (co-founder and Chair of the Marie Lamfrom Charitable Foundation). “She wanted them to know the satisfaction of giving back to the community, like making and serving meals to the elderly.”  

Marie’s 44 years as troop leader and long stint as a board member are honored each year by the Girl Scouts with a “Women of Distinction” luncheon. But her legacy can also be seen in the community through the work of her children and grandchildren.

In the 1970s, Marie’s daughter, Gert Boyle, was suddenly widowed and faced the double challenge of raising her children and salvaging the family business from debtors. Thanks to the example set by her resilient and accomplished mother, Gert and her son Tim turned things around, eventually building one of the world’s largest outdoor apparel brands, known around the world as Columbia Sportswear.

Marie taught her family so much about survival and service. To honor her, Marie’s granddaughter, Sally, founded the Marie Lamfrom Charitable Foundation in 1998 with her late husband, Dave Bany. In the decades since, the foundation has helped thousands of young people and community members lead happier, healthier, and more fulfilling lives.

In 2019, Gert Boyle left an extraordinary gift to the Marie Lamfrom Charitable Foundation through her estate. The Foundation is now poised to award more than $12,000,000 this year. With Gert’s transformative gift, the foundation will continue to honor Marie’s legacy, supporting Oregon and Washington nonprofit organizations that advance the arts, creativity, education, mentorship, health, and well-being – which, Sally says, “is exactly how she would want to be remembered.”