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Valley leader Beeghly, 96, dies
Two of the largest buildings at YSU are named after the philanthropist’s family.
BOARDMAN — R. Thornton Beeghly, 96, former president of Standard Slag Co. and longtime community leader and philanthropist, died Monday morning at his home after a brief illness.
Born May 4, 1912, Beeghly came to Youngstown from Toledo at age 6 with his parents, Leon A. and Mabel Snyder Beeghly. The family settled on a Market Street property, which it donated in 1965 to Forum Health and on which Beeghly Medical Park was built.
Services are at 11 a.m. Saturday in Trinity United Methodist Church in Youngstown. Friends may call one half-hour before the service in the church and from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday at Shriver-Allison-Courtley-Weller-King Funeral Home in Youngstown. Contributions may be made to the church or a charity of the donor’s choice.
In 1967, Beeghly became president of Standard Slag, which was founded by his father with partners W.E. Bliss and W.H. Kilcawley. He retired in 1995. The Beeghly family had interests in several other companies in the Mahoning Valley, including Altronic Inc. in Girard, of which Beeghly’s son, Bruce, is president.
Educational institutions have been the primary beneficiaries of the L.A. Beeghly Fund, established in 1940 and carried on by Thornton and his brothers after their father’s death in 1967.
Many college buildings carry the Beeghly name, including Youngstown State University’s Beeghly Center for physical education and Beeghly Hall, which houses the College of Education; and others at Westminster College, Mount Union College, Ohio Wesleyan University, and American University in Washington, D.C.
Religious organizations have also been recipients of fund gifts, including Trinity United Methodist Church, where Thornton was a member and attended church on his 96th birthday; the United Methodist Community Center in Youngstown; and the Methodist Theological School at Delaware, Ohio.
Though Beeghly was heavily involved in business and the community, he “put his family first and was a great father to me and my sister growing up. Later he was a mentor to the whole extended family and was the family’s elder statesman for the last eight years,” said Bruce Beeghly.
He said the highlight of his father’s year was the annual family reunion, the 41st consecutive of which was this summer in Fellows Riverside Gardens in Mill Creek Park. Thornton Beeghly had injured himself in a fall and could not attend this year’s reunion. Many of the 100 family members from across the country in attendance brought the reunion to him by visiting him at his Boardman home.
“He was a gentleman and such a quietly generous person. He loved his family,” said Nancy Beeghly, Bruce’s wife.
Bruce said his father enjoyed involvement in community events and keeping up with politics and what was happening in the world.
Thornton graduated from South High School, where he was class president, in 1930; Culver Military Academy; and Ohio Wesleyan University, in 1934.
In 1929, he was part of a youth delegation representing the United States at a YMCA International Peace Conference in Nuremberg, Germany. During World War II and the Korean War, he served as an industry representative on technical committees of the Army’s Ordnance Department.
Beeghly was past president of the Youngstown YMCA, the Youngstown Hospital Association, Buechner Hall and The Youngstown Club, and a past director of Mahoning National Bank and Bank One.
He served on the boards of the Community Corporation, the Youngstown Chamber of Commerce, the Butler Institute of American Art, the Youngstown Symphony Society, the Industrial Information Institute, the Methodist Theological School in Ohio and the church.
In 1983, he received an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from YSU and was the YSU Alumni Association’s Distinguished Citizen.
His wife of 53 years, the former Kathryn Dickhaut, whom he married Oct. 23, 1937, died in 1991.
Besides his son, Bruce of Struthers, he leaves a daughter, Carol Traynor of New York City; two sisters, Lucile Patrick of Kalamazoo, Mich., and Mary Alice Schaff of Youngstown; a brother, Paul T. of Santa Ana, Calif.; and three grandchildren, Lynne Beeghly of Boca Raton, Fla., Christine Beeghly of Columbus and Brian Beeghly of Boulder, Colo.
Three brothers, James, Charles and John, are deceased.
alcorn@vindy.com