John H. “Jack” Saunders earned a Bachelor of Science degree in urban affairs from Washington University and completed graduate studies in social work and geriatrics at Washington University and St. Louis University. He worked in public housing as manager of Pruitt-Igoe and with the St. Louis office of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Odester Dixon Saunders earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration and management at Fontbonne University. After beginning her career on Wall Street, she returned to St. Louis, and in 1980 worked at Citicorp as a community liaison officer and market manager. In 1995, Jack and Odester Dixon Saunders operated Saunders-Dixon & Company Planning Consultants, specializing in housing management. In 1973, Jack Saunders and Fred Robinson founded The Ville Historic Preservation Commission with the assistance of political leaders Archie Blaine, Franklin Payne, and Samuel Kennedy. The group worked to establish The Ville as a national historic district. In 1980, Odester Dixon Saunders became an advisor to the group along with fourth ward alderwoman Daisy McFowland, social worker and civic leader Elizabeth Garlington, and academic and activist William Harrison. In 1987, the group successfully supported a bill to have the area designated by the City of St. Louis as The Ville Historic District (ordinance 60236), and in 2006 the Board of Aldermen passed a bill that expanded the neighborhood development strategies (ordinance 67174). Jack and Odester Saunders were instrumental in forming a number of other organizations related to rebuilding the Ville community including The Ville Historic Preservation Commission, the Historic Ville Alliance, the Ville Foundation, and the Greater Ville Historic Redevelopment Corporation. The Greater Ville Redevelopment Corporation was incorporated in 1975 to revitalize the Greater Ville by building partnerships and coalitions to build a stable community. In January 1991, this corporation merged with the Ville Historic Preservation Commission to create a nonprofit neighborhood planning and development organization, the Greater Ville Historic Redevelopment Corporation. Unlike its predecessor, this corporation was capable of initiating development ventures through funding from the Community Development Agency and support from Anheuser-Busch, Boatmen’s Bank, and Mercantile Bank, among others (f.2).