Foundations donate $500,000 to YSU

The gift is earmarked for construction of a new
business college building.

By HAROLD GWIN

VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — Now, that’s what anyone would call an outstanding birthday present.

Youngstown State University started its 100th anniversary celebration a day early Friday when the John and Loretta Hynes and John D. Finnegan Foundations announced a $500,000 gift to the university’s Centennial Capital Campaign.

The money, to be paid over a 10-year period, is earmarked for the construction of a new $34 million building for the Williamson College of Business Administration.

YSU officially kicks off its centennial celebration at today’s homecoming football game.

The gift from the foundations is “a great way to kick off the homecoming weekend and a great way to start the centennial celebration,” said Dr. David C. Sweet, YSU president.

“It is our pleasure on the 100th anniversary of the founding of YSU to provide this gift and to be a part of the university’s Centennial Campaign and the construction of this new building,” said David Sabine, senior vice president of Huntington Bank, the trustee of the foundations.

The university launched the $43 million fund drive a year ago, and Friday’s gift brings the total thus far to $34.2 million, said Tony Lariccia, campaign chairman.

It is the 14th gift to the campaign of $500,000 or more, he added.

In addition to a new building for Williamson, the campaign will be used to improve science and engineering laboratories, construct an indoor athletic practice field and increase endowments to support student scholarships, faculty chairs and professorships, the nursing program and the Rich Center for Autism.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Hynes-Finnegan Foundations, said Frank Hierro, regional president of Huntington. The gift to YSU is the largest commitment of funds ever made by the foundations, he added, calling it “a significant investment in the community.”

Dr. Betty Jo Licata, Williamson dean, said Williamson’s Professional Sales and Business Communications Facility will be named in the foundations’ honor.

The foundations were formed in 1957 by John D. Finnegan and John Hynes, founders and original owners of Hynes Industries.

The gift is the foundations’ fourth major gift to YSU in the past 11 years. The others were $100,000 in 1996 to the YSU Foundation for nursing scholarships; $10,000 in 2001 for the YSU Operations Improvement Task Force; and $250,000 in 2002 for the construction of the Andrews Student Recreation and Wellness Center.

The gift was something of a birthday present for Lariccia as well. It was his 62nd birthday, and those gathered for the foundations announcement serenaded him with a rendition of “Happy Birthday.”

Lariccia and his family have given $4 million to the Centennial Capital Campaign.

gwin@vindy.com