Stories: Fundholder Stories

Everett Shumate had a heart for Hudson. In the 1930s, he grew up as one of the few African Americans in the small town.  After graduating from Hudson High School, Everett joined his father as an employee of the Peterson Nut Company, and for five years,...

Conservation of nature has been an important focus of the Allard family for many generations, both in general and also specifically to Allardale Park in the Medina County Park District. Before the park became the go-to place for Medina County residents to...

Although most people study history in school, it was at the dinner table that longtime Akron native Marna Becker started gathering her vast knowledge of U.S. and world history.  Becker grew up listening to her father talk about the stories he learned in...

For four days and nights, Harry Donovan was lost at sea. His entire crew had been attacked, so there he sat, stranded in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, where hope seemed as distant as the shoreline. Deliverance came in the form of a U.S. landing ship. Its...

When Mary DiDonato thinks of home, she thinks of her mother, a kind and caring woman who served others while never asking for anything in return.  Mary has many fond memories of her mother's charity, including how she started every day by serving...

New Year's Eve is a time of reflection and planning for many, including the Mike and Susan Zeleznik family.  On Dec. 31, 2012, at the end of what had been a rewarding year, the Hudson residents chose to express their gratitude by planning for the future:...

For most parents, a child's graduation marks a monumental milestone: with their child and with one another. Nothing could have been truer for Bath residents David and Lisa Craine when their oldest son, Jake, graduated from Archbishop Hoban High School in...

"I was miserable just calling an 800 service." That's what corporate real estate advisor Bob Cooper said of his former charitable fund administrator. The administrator was the same national financial services firm that managed his donor-advised fund. It was...

An astounding one in three people will suffer from arthritis or joint deterioration in their lifetime, according to Dr. Scott Weiner, director of the orthopaedic surgery department at Summa Health System in Akron. The department sees thousands of patients in...

The quest to be bigger and better: it's what John A. McAlonan was all about. Born in Cuyahoga Falls in 1880, he earned a living moving from place to place across the country, holding a variety of occupations in the process.  But he found his greatest...