CHADS Founders: Larry and Marian McCord

Chad McCord was not your ordinary teenager. He was an Eagle Scout. He was in the top 15% of his class at Oakville High School and had almost 20 college credits. He was a church youth group retreat leader and an outstanding athlete. During his 3-1/2 years of high school, he earned 5 “most something” plaque awards for cross-country, soccer, and track. He was being recruited by a Division 1 school to play college soccer. He was nominated for and attended a week-long leadership program in Washington, DC. As a volunteer, he spent many hours as a coach and worker for the Kirkwood Track Club. He was the assistant coach for his church CYC track team for four years.

Chad had a special compassion and respect for everyone. He loved to volunteer, especially with children with special needs. This was clear in his work with Ride On St. Louis, an equestrian therapy program for physically challenged children.

Chad’s life was forever changed after depression reared its ugly and deadly head. The disease was just as deadly and invasive as cancer. Slowly, it took over Chad’s spirit, body and mind. With every passing day, Chad lost hope and began seeing himself as a burden to all. His depression blinded him to the many gifts he had.

Chad could no longer hide his depression behind the mask he wore so well. In October 2003, Chad was diagnosed with depression and an anxiety disorder. Several months later, he was diagnosed with OCD (obsessing to hurt himself) and rapid cycling bipolar disorder.

As Chad underwent his treatment, he vowed that after he got better he wanted to make a difference in people’s lives by bringing mental illness out of the closet. He said that once he was better, he wanted to stand in front of the school assembly and say, “Hi, my name is Chad McCord, and I suffer from depression.” He commented, “If I had cancer, students would rally around me and make posters and give me a hero’s welcome when I came back to school. But since I have a mental illness, the students will shy away from me. They will think I am weird and not want to be around me.”

Chad McCord was 18 years old when he lost his battle with depression and took his life on April 15, 2004. Unfortunately, Chad left this world before fulfilling his dream to increase awareness and acceptance of mental illness. Chad’s parents, Larry and Marian McCord, vowed to be Chad's voice. In 2005, they founded CHADS Coalition for Mental Health in memory of their son, Chad. CHADS' goal is to save teen lives.

The AARP Purpose Prize Recipient Larry McCord: He Lost a Child to Suicide. Now He’s Trying to Save Others

Larry McCord and his wife, Marian, were raising three children in St. Louis. Life was a whirl of after-school activities, athletics and college preparation, until the day the girlfriend of their middle son, Chad, asked to meet with them.

Chad was a top student in his 12th grade class, a nationally ranked track star, a church youth group leader and in the process of becoming an Eagle Scout. But his girlfriend was worried. Chad was talking about suicide. Larry, who worked in information technology, and Marian, a pediatric nurse, immediately got Chad an appointment with a psychiatrist. Over the next six months, Chad tried 17 different medications and underwent several rounds of shock treatments. Despite interventions, he attempted suicide seven times and was hospitalized for a week after each attempt.

Marian quit her job and slept on the couch next to her son to protect him. As he battled mental illness, Chad said he wanted his peers to understand and support his struggle. “When I get better, I’d like to stand up in front of my high school and say, ‘Hi, I’m Chad, and I suffer from depression,’  ” Chad told his father.

“But he died before he had that chance,” Larry says. “So my wife and I vowed we’d be his voice.”

In 2005, a few months after Chad’s death, the McCords gathered friends and family around the kitchen table and created CHADS Coalition for Mental Health with the aim of increasing awareness and acceptance of mental health issues. (CHADS is an acronym for Communities Healing Adolescent Depression and Suicide.) A winner of the 2025 AARP Purpose Prize, Larry has gone on to create an organization that teaches students to recognize the signs of a crisis and provides a way for those with depression to get help.

What Is the AARP Purpose Prize?

The AARP Purpose Prize honors nonprofit founders age 50 and over who use their life experience to create innovative solutions to challenges people face in their community.

Organizations founded by the winners receive $75,000 and a year of technical support as they expand the scope of their nonprofit's work. This support ensures the continued success of their foundations, with strategies such as succession planning, data evaluation and social media campaigns.

Expanding their mission

CHADS Coalition, with Marian as executive director and Larry working evenings and weekends, raised money through 5K races, track events and trivia nights and began offering $30,000 to $50,000 grants to psychiatric researchers.

Marian McCord, L’Oréal Paris Women of Worth Honoree

In high school, Chad McCord was an Eagle Scout, a church youth group retreat leader, a gifted athlete and student. He was also diagnosed with depression and anxiety disorder. His mental health struggles ultimately led him to taking his own life, leaving his parents devastated. Because Chad had wanted to make a difference in people’s lives by shining a light on mental illness, his mother, Marian McCord, vowed to be his voice. In 2004, Marian transitioned her career as a pediatric nurse from saving lives in the hospital, to saving lives in the community. In honor of Chad’s remarkable life and legacy, she founded CHADS Coalition for Mental Health to rescue young lives by advancing awareness and prevention of depression and suicide.

Today, CHADS offers clinical counseling for students struggling with anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts, one on one social and emotional mentoring and evidence based suicide prevention presentations. In 2019, CHADS presented to 57,872 students – 7,311 of whom felt compelled to ask for help. The non-profit has outreach programs in 183 schools, with core platforms in place to help save lives. Because suicide is the second leading cause of death for youth aged 10-24, it is critical to provide young people with the tools they need to ask for help before it is too late. Under Marian’s guidance, CHADS has grown an average of 20% each year, and serves as a reminder of the enduring power of familial love.