Akron Children's, Forum Health vie for $8 million in foundation funds

By PETER H. MILLIKEN

milliken@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

What to do with $8 million left to the former Tod Children’s Hospital will be the subject of a trial that begins at 10 a.m. Tuesday in Mahoning County Probate Court.

In a trial to the court, expected to last three to four days, Forum Health and Akron Children’s Hospital will be vying for the money as they present their arguments to Judge Mark A. Belinky.

Having gone through reorganization bankruptcy, Forum Health, which previously operated Tod as a nonprofit hospital, is now owned by the Tennessee-based for-profit Community Health Systems.

In July 2008, before Forum filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the Butler Wick Trust Co. filed a petition in probate court to redirect money from the Kikel Charitable Foundation, which was designated for Tod, to another Mahoning Valley heath-care institution primarily serving children.

Half of the money, left by sisters Josephine Mary Kikel, Jenny R. Kikel and Angela V. Kikel, was to be distributed annually to Tod, and the other half to St. Elizabeth Health Center’s children’s unit after the Dec. 28, 1998, death of Angela V. Kikel, the last surviving sister. The Kikel Trust has assets of about $16 million.

Butler Wick said it was unable to administer the Kikel Trust as intended after Tod closed July 1, 2007.

“The court must ascertain the intent of the Kikel sisters,” through a trial, Judge Belinky wrote in a judgment entry filed last month.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com