2025 Project Status Update
The Gygax Memorial Fund, Inc., a non-profit organization founded by Gary's widow, has worked for many years to get approval to build the memorial in Gary's hometown of Lake Geneva, WI. In 2024, during the 50th anniversary year of the game, the city fully granted the land for the memorial in Gary's favorite place, in his favorite park, and accepted the future donation of the memorial to the City of Lake Geneva.
But how did we get here? Our early fundraising efforts were good but without an approved location and final design for our project, fundraising became less of a focus. Instead, the GMF worked toward securing acceptance of the memorial by the City of Lake Geneva and the location Gary wanted in Library Park.
In the initial years of the fund (2009 to 2013) we raised $15k from individual fans and $50k in corporate donations (including $18k for the Premium Edition Book sales donated by Wizards of the Coast). Then, in 2012-2013 a wonderful donor stepped in and pledged $175k. We were elated but still had been unable to convince the City of Lake Geneva to permit us to build the memorial in Library Park. Shortly after this time, Gary’s widow became ill, and the project slowed. However, she still succeeded in getting the city to grant a site for the memorial. Unfortunately, after investigation, the site, Donian Park, ended up being restricted from building any such project within its boundaries.
Frustrated by the lack of progress and still recovering from her illness, Gary’s widow decided to bring on a new vice president, Paul Stormberg to begin a campaign to re-invigorate the project. Unfortunately, just before Paul joined the GMF in 2019, our largest donor expressed that they did not think the site for the memorial would ever be approved by the city and, thus, the project never be completed. After a long discussion about a new direction for the fund and new design for the memorial, it was ultimately agreed to return the majority of their donation in 2022, with the hope the donor would rejoin the project when it was clear the city was willing to move forward.
That left the fund with only a small amount of operating funds. Paul Stormberg was then named president of the GMF and immediately began a series of initiatives within the City of Lake Geneva to convince them of Gary's impact on the City and the world: a park bench in Gary's name, proclaiming Gary's birthday as Gary Gygax Day, a walking tour map of Gary’s life in the city, a section of the local library dedicated to Gary, a museum exhibit of Gary’s life, a city-wide festival in Gary's honor, and more. All of these initiatives, and the many presentations to the various local civic councils and boards, led to the City to realize Gary's impact and importance to the world. This all led to the Park Board granting the use of the land in Library Park, the Planning Commission to approving the design, and the City Council to accepting to donation of the memorial in 2024.
Of course, none of this was without cost. Over the 16 years of the fund’s existence, expenses have included: accountants, tax preparation, attorney fees, travel, convention appearances, city presentations, artists, surveyors, architects, sculpture consultants, domain and website management, etc. It all added up to about $4k of expenditures each year. It took time and considerable effort but we have accomplished our mission, and secured the site and design for the project. And now we can move forward with fund raising, once again.
That brings us to today, preparing for a renewed fundraising campaign to finally realize what the fans have wanted for years.
Our Kickstarter begins October 1st, 2025, on the anniversary of Gary Gygax founding his company TSR to publish Dungeons & Dragons®--a game that would change the world. All previous donors will receive commensurate rewards to those participating in the Kickstarter.