When Dorothy Largay learned that she would receive the Santa Barbara Foundation’s Person of the Year award, her response was characteristically gracious.
“I feel privileged, honored and incredibly grateful to be part of a community that gives back in every way possible,” she said. “No matter what your talent or skill, there is a place for you here, and not only a place — there is a need for you.”
Largay speaks with the quiet authority of someone who has spent more than two decades embodying a philosophy of service. Over that time, she has been a steady and influential presence in the Santa Barbara community, giving her time, resources and professional expertise to causes ranging from international women’s health to local arts, health care and humanitarian relief.
Her commitment to service traces directly to her mother, who raised eight children in Middlebury, Connecticut, and volunteered as a Pink Lady at the local hospital for 40 years.
“She lived ‘love thy neighbor as thyself’ in everything she did,” Largay recalled. “It wasn’t just volunteering. It was in every action she took.”
That ethos became Largay’s own, shaping not just what she does but who she is.
“What does it mean to be a human being and a contributing member of your community?” she asked. “That was just part of what we all did.”
Her professional life brought its own defining moments. As director of leadership development at Apple, she found herself in Berlin on the day the Wall fell — one of the first to walk through the Brandenburg Gate as East met West. The experience was galvanizing.
“I decided I wanted to be part of this movement,” she said — launching a career thread woven through with social justice, democracy and human dignity that has never really stopped.
When Largay and her husband, Wayne, moved to Santa Barbara in 2005, she researched where she could make the greatest impact and landed on Direct Relief. She started on the front lines — packing boxes, staffing phones during Hurricane Katrina, and traveling to Haiti after the earthquake.
She was among the founders of Direct Relief Women and helped launch a safe birth kit initiative that has since enabled more than 280,000 safe deliveries across 33 countries. Largay eventually joined the board and was part of the pivotal decision to expand Direct Relief’s mission to serve communities across all 50 states.
Improving the lives of women and families has been the defining thread of Largay’s philanthropy.
As founder of the Linked Foundation — which invests in initiatives that improve the health and economic self-reliance of women and families in Latin America and the United States — she has touched tens of thousands of lives through programs in women’s health and economic empowerment. She brings to the work the metrics-minded rigor of her Apple years, alongside the conviction that numbers alone are never enough.
“I love to get in and really see the work,” she said. “I get energized by doing purposeful things and being around people who do meaningful work.”
Supporting organizations at critical inflection points also has come to define Largay’s legacy. She served on the Cottage Health board, where she championed the expansion of the hospital’s mission into population health and community care, and serves on the strategic advisory committee at Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics as it redefines community health care. She also co-chairs the advisory board of UCSB Arts & Lectures.
Ask Largay what she gets from a lifetime of giving, and she doesn’t hesitate: “A meaningful life.”
As she accepts this recognition, she remains characteristically focused not on herself but on the moment.
“Given the condition of our world,” she said, “our community needs each of us more than ever to put our shoulder to the wheel — in any way, and in every way possible.”
It is exactly what Largay has been doing all along.
Largay will be honored with Marybeth Carty at the Santa Barbara Foundation’s 83rd Person of the Year Awards luncheon, which recognizes extraordinary volunteers who have made a significant impact in the Santa Barbara area. The event will be held April 29 at the Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort.
