YSU F.C. Watson featured speaker at graduation

Approximately 500 will receive degrees during the ceremonies.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Frank C. Watson, a Youngstown State University graduate and former YSU trustee, will be the featured speaker at the YSU summer commencement, which will be at 10 a.m. Saturday in Beeghly Center on campus.
Watson will also receive an honorary doctor of science degree.
Approximately 500 students are expected to receive diplomas at the ceremony.
Watson received YSU's Distinguished Citizen of the Year award last month.
The native of Webster, N.Y., enrolled at then-Youngstown University after serving in the Navy during World War II.
He graduated with an engineering degree in 1949 and immediately went to work for his uncle at the Youngstown Welding and Engineering Co.
He became president of the company in 1959 and served in that role until his retirement in 1988.
Watson is a past director of the Dollar Savings and Trust, Ohio Bancorp and Ohio Edison Co.; a trustee of the Youngstown Hospital Association; a member of the Canfield Board of Education; and a past president of the Youngstown Area Chamber of Commerce.
He was chairman of the campaign for YSU's All-Sports Complex, which helped raise $16 million for the construction of Stambaugh Stadium. He also is an original member of the YSU Foundation board, on which he continues to serve.
Watson and his wife, Norma, have contributed to the Scholarship Loge program at YSU, and the Watson Sports Media Center in Stambaugh Stadium is named after them. The couple also recently gave $125,000 to YSU in the campaign to build a new campus recreation and wellness center.