Last Tuesday, the Chester County Community Foundation gathered together philanthropists, community servants, and business leaders for its annual meeting to celebrate the mission of the foundation, and the legacies of those who make it possible.

“What we do is quite straightforward,” said Robert E. Rigg, chairman of the CCCF’s board. “We connect people who care with missions that matter, so that their philanthropy will do good now and forever.”

The grantmaking that the foundation does on behalf of its charitable givers is more important than ever, said Karen A. Simmons, CEO and President of the Foundation.

“After Tuesday’s election, no matter how you voted, we all have a role to play in repairing the fabric of our society,” she said. “One way we do that is through grantmaking to nonprofits and organizations that make a difference.”

And one person who played an enormous role in making the foundation’s mission possible was W. Thomas Musser, the evening’s recipient of the Jordan Award — the Foundation’s highest honor, given to those who embody the philanthropic good works that significantly improve the quality of life in Chester County.

Musser, who passed away last July after a battle with brain cancer, was well known in Chester County, as well as the country, as an entrepreneur and philanthropist.

He and his wife were even frequent guests at the White House during the George W. Bush Administration.

“My dad always felt it was important to be a good steward in the communities where he lived and worked,” said Tom H. Musser, who, along with his sister Traci Musser Bauguess and mother Bonnie Musser, accepted the award in Thomas’s honor.

“Cicero said to the Roman senate that the lives of those who have passed live on in the memories of those who are present,” said State Senator Andrew Dinniman, who recognized W. Thomas Musser’s contributions to the Chester County Community Foundation, “and the greatest way to keep their memories alive is to live up to the example that those people left for us.”

After receiving the Jordan Award, the Musser family announced that the generous grants which accompany the award will be made to the Kennett Area YMCA and the Chester County Hospital Foundation and Cancer Treatment Center on behalf of the Musser family.