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PRIDE CEO Michael Ziegler Leaves Legacy of Compassionate Entrepreneurship



The Board of Directors and staff at Placer Community Foundation are sad to announce the passing of Mike “Ziggy” Ziegler.

Mike dedicated 37 years as CEO to Pride Industries, a Roseville-based nonprofit organization dedicated to creating employment opportunities for people with disabilities. He died peacefully at home while surrounded by family last Tuesday, the organization said. Ziegler was 75.

Mike joined PRIDE in 1983, and under his passionate direction, the organization grew from 65 employees to more than 5,600 today, 3,350 of whom have disabilities. PRIDE has also placed and supported successful employment for thousands more people with disabilities at small businesses, Fortune 500 companies, and government partners across the country.

Over the years, PRIDE Industries partnered with Placer Community Foundation (PCF) to grow their job development efforts.

PCF made grants to PRIDE’s Youth Employment Program, which provides critical mentorship and peer support for emancipated foster youth to enter the workforce. And in 2018 PRIDE Industries established an endowment fund at PCF to support a wide spectrum of services that help people overcome employment obstacles and empower them to lead productive, independent lives. <<Learn more about this fund.

Placer Community Foundation Board Member Larry Welch serves on PRIDE’s Board of Directors and worked alongside Mike for 20 years.

“Mike was a unique business pioneer who understood the power of providing jobs for people with disabilities,” said Welch. “Jobs that allowed people to earn a paycheck and to be proud of their work and their life. I will dearly miss Mike’s remarkable compassion for all people with disabilities, his zany leadership style and his amazing friendship. I was blessed to have known Mike Ziegler.”

PCF’s CEO Veronica Blake recounts the 24 years she knew Mike.

“Our region lost an icon,” said Blake. “I greatly valued talking with him about big picture issues facing our region. Issues like the economy, housing, transportation and always, developing and growing our workforce. He we will be missed as a colleague who cared deeply for this community.”

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