Every year since 1967, the Cincinnati Regional Chamber has selected a new class of Great Living Cincinnatians on the basis of community service, business and civic attainment, leadership, awareness of others’ needs, and distinctive accomplishments that garnered attention to their community, institution or organization. Meet the 2025 honorees, with their selected remarks from the Chamber’s annual dinner on February 27.
James M. Anderson is a Yale undergraduate, a Vanderbilt Law School graduate, a Vietnam veteran, and a former attorney at Taft Law. He’d been a longstanding board member of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center when he tapped as CEO in the early 1990s, leading the hospital’s rise from No. 10 in the nation in 1997 to No. 1 in 2023. “I’m certainly struck by the leadership that’s represented here tonight and the enormous capacity for good that you all have. And if I could leave you with a challenge, it would be to act on that good, to make the world a better place because you’re here, to start before you’re ready. But, above all, start.”
Dolores J. Lindsay was a key leader in launching the Lincoln Heights Infirmary (later called The HealthCare Connection), which provides healthcare services to underserved populations. She later earned a master’s degree in public administration and led the organization to expand its services to Mt. Healthy, Forest Park, and the Princeton School District. She retired in 2020 after 53 years of public health care services. “Some of my best days have been spent building the service system that we now enjoy and that many of the people in the county do, because everyone deserves quality health care. There is no better legacy that anyone could ask for.”
Charles R. Scheper became the “accidental” mayor of Covington in 2011, where he reduced the budget by about $5 million and was instrumental in revitalizing the city’s business district. Today, he serves as board chair at Covington-based Bexion. “When they told me about being named a Great Living Cincinnatian, I was speechless. I still can’t believe it, but I’m very thankful because maybe I’ve made a little bit of a difference in our community. After being diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer 33 years ago, I didn’t know if I would live 33 months. So the best part of the honor is the word ‘living.’ ”
Geraldine “Ginger” B. Warner has been a lifelong lover of the arts. A graduate of Cornell undergrad and NYU Law School, she became a successful lawyer when just 1 percent of practicing attorneys were women. She served and generously supported organizations such as the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Taft Museum of Art, Ensemble Theatre, and May Festival. As current chair of the Ohio Arts Council, she’s allocated arts funding to all 88 counties, up from just 53 when she joined. “If Ohio is the heart of it all, certainly Cincinnati has it all. I have been truly blessed to have landed here in this city and make it my city.”
Photographs by Ross Van Pelt