Don Pfeifer Born in Little Rock in 1935, Don Pfeifer earned his undergraduate degree in liberal arts from Princeton and his master’s degree in business from Stanford. Until his retirement in 2000, he enjoyed a long career as part-owner and then executive vice president of MM Cohn retail stores.
He is a family man if we ever met one. He and his wife Nancy (deceased) have six children and a dozen grandchildren who live in Bellevue, Wash., Harrisburg, Pa., Baltimore and Little Rock. “One of my major hobbies has been kids,” he jokes.
When he first got involved with the EMCC, Pfeifer was chair of the United Way committee responsible for allocating the nonprofit’s funds. “We interviewed all of the organizations, and I was extremely impressed with EMCC, not only in the quality of its leader, Richard Hill, but also in the fact that the board was so emotionally involved,” he explains. “It really intrigued me.”
At the time of the merger, Pfeifer was head of the EMCC board, and is today on the CFYF board of directors and the CFYF foundation board. In total, he’s been involved with the organization in some capacity for 35 years.
The Parent Center is one of Pfeifer’s favorite CFYF programs. “It is the most exciting thing we do,” he says. “The Parent Center teaches people to be better parents and tries to prevent problems before they occur. It’s like preventive medicine.” Pfeifer says there are programs and classes for parents in prison, teen parents, parents of children affected by ADHD and more.
In addition to helping children and families, Pfeifer is passionate about traveling. In fact, just days after this interview he left for Papua New Guinea. “My wife and I got really involved in traveling around the country, and we bought a motor home. Now I’m doing it internationally,” he laughs.