YSU Wang donation boosts fund to $7.4M

The health and wellness center is expected to open in fall 2005.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Dr. H.S. Wang of Canfield, a trustee at Youngstown State University, and his wife, Florence, have donated $100,000 to help construct a student recreation and wellness center at YSU.
With the gift from the Wang Family Charity Foundation, the $12 million fund-raising campaign for the center has reached $7.4 million.
Dr. Wang, whose term as a YSU trustee expires in 2009, is an ophthalmic surgeon.
He is a clinical associate professor of ophthalmology at the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, past chairman of the Eyes, Ears, Nose and Throat Department at St. Elizabeth Health Center and past president of the Mahoning Valley Medical Society.
He also is a member of the Youngstown Rotary Club and a trustee of the Butler Institute of American Art.
Mrs. Wang is past president of the Mahoning County chapter of the American Red Cross, Leadership Mahoning Valley, YWCA and the Mahoning County Medical Society Alliance.
She also serves on the Ohio State Service Council of the American Red Cross and is on the boards of the Youngstown Symphony and the International Foundation.
Private donations
Construction of the recreation center will be fully funded through private donations. It will be the first campus building constructed entirely with private funds since Ward Beecher Science Hall in 1967.
The John S. and Doris M. Andrews Trust, named after the late financier and his wife, has pledged $2 million to the project. Other major contributions include a $1 million pledge from the Ward and Florence Simon Beecher Foundation, $750,000 from Anthony and Mary Lariccia and $500,000 from D.D. and Velma Davis.
The center, which will feature a fitness center, climbing wall, weight room, jogging track, racquetball courts and spiritual meditation room, will be attached to the west end of YSU's Kilcawley Center and is expected to open in fall 2005.