Tashia Morgridge, one of Wauwatosa’s most notable and generous philanthropists, has died. She was 93.
Morgridge founded the TOSA Foundation with her husband, John Morgridge, and their giving in recent years has included millions of dollars to help fund the reconstruction of TOSA Pool at Hoyt Park and the aquatic center at Wauwatosa East High School. The Morgridges were both graduates of the former Wauwatosa High School, class of 1951.
Last year, they also gave $1 million to the City of Wauwatosa to help repair Hart Park after it sustained severe damage from flooding of the Menomonee River.
Through the California-based TOSA Foundation, “they have spread their extraordinary generosity across their home state and across America. Employing Tashia's teaching skills, they also mentored generations of people, in Wauwatosa and beyond, in a wide variety of ways,” Wauwatosa Mayor Dennis McBride said in a statement provided to Tosa Forward News.
Tashia Morgridge died Oct. 30, according to a tribute to her posted to the UW-Madison Alumni Association’s website. She was a 1955 graduate of UW-Madison, as was her husband, who survives her.
“A pragmatic, hardworking, and curious woman, Tashia went on to become a special education teacher,” the UW Alumni Association article said. “She and John married after graduation during the summer of 1955, and together they had three children.”
John Morgridge, starting in 1988, served as an early CEO of the tech giant Cisco Systems, which allowed the Morgridges “to be a philanthropic powerhouse,” according to a UW Alumni Park article.
Their contributions to their alma mater have included hundreds of millions of dollars to support the Morgridge Center for Public Service, the Morgridge Institute for Research, faculty retention and renovation of UW’s education school. They also have given $344 million endowment to the Fund for Wisconsin Scholars, which they established to provide grants for low-income students to attend public colleges in Wisconsin.
“Tashia Morgridge leaves an extraordinary legacy in Wisconsin, one built on a profound belief in the power of education to change lives,” Universities of Wisconsin interim President Renée Wachter said in the tribute to Morgridge by the UW Alumni Association.
“I know I speak for the presidents who came before me, and for colleagues across the Universities of Wisconsin, in expressing our deep gratitude for the remarkable generosity, encouragement, and commitment Tashia and John have shown our universities and our students over many years. Their support has opened doors of opportunity for countless people across our state. Tashia made Wisconsin better, and we will miss her greatly.”
That generosity has extended to the Morgridges’ hometown of Wauwatosa. TOSA Pool at Hoyt Park, for example, was partly named after the Morgridges’ TOSA Foundation, which provided the cornerstone funding for the pool’s creation and opening in 2011. More recently, the Morgridges gave $4.7 million in 2019 to Wauwatosa School District to create a new state-of-the-art pool at Tosa East.
And the $1 million gift to the City of Wauwatosa helped offset the several million dollars in repairs that were needed to city-owned public infrastructure and recreational facilities at Hart Park after the August 2025 flooding.
“Tashia Morgridge was a kind, yet formidable, woman who had a substantial impact on her hometown,” McBride said. “She and her equally kind husband, John, displayed their generosity in physical form at the TOSA Pool at Hoyt Park, the historic Tosa East lobby, the Tosa East aquatic complex and the Lincoln Elementary School playground, among other places. Without being asked, they sent Wauwatosa $1 million to help us recover from the 2025 flood. Their love for their hometown can also be measured by the fact that they named their family foundation the TOSA Foundation.
“The Morgridges have been steadfast friends to me for more than 20 years. I am deeply saddened that Tashia is no longer with us. I will miss her friendship and good counsel.”
- David Paulsen, a Tosa East Towne resident and editor of Tosa Forward News, has more than 25 years of experience as a professional journalist. He can be reached at editor@tosanews.com.
