Trustees sworn in to oversee Wirt trust

January 20, 2016 at 12:05a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

Four trustees of the Benjamin Franklin Wirt Trust were formally sworn in Tuesday by Judge Robert N. Rusu Jr. of Mahoning County Probate Court.

Sworn in at Mahoning Valley Historical Society’s board of directors’ meeting were Scott R. Schulick, a financial adviser for Stifel Nicolaus & Co. Inc.; Rick Shale, a former Youngstown State University English professor; Marilyn Oyer, a community volunteer and the historical society’s development-committee chairwoman; and Nancy Morris, a community volunteer and longtime MVHS member.

Janice Fagert, a chemist for the Youngstown Water Department, also was to have been sworn in during the session at Tyler Mahoning Valley History Center on West Federal Street, downtown, but was unable to attend because of illness.

All five trustees also serve on the society’s board of directors.

Wirt was a Youngstown attorney who also served one term as the Mahoning Valley’s state senator from 1889 to 1893.

He and his wife, Mary M. Wirt, traveled extensively around the world and he collected 3,165 items that are in a collection housed at the Arms Family Museum on Wick Avenue, Shale said.

“He was a philanthropist and a collector, and a very unique individual,” Shale said, adding that Wirt amassed at least 2,000 books and collected an array of merchandise that included china pieces, coins, rare documents, pistols from the Revolutionary War, furnishings and a variety of artwork from all over the world.

After his death in 1930, Wirt’s estate, which included his collection, was placed in a trust. He wanted a museum to be established to exhibit his antiquities and pieces of art to benefit and educate the public, but his estate was not large enough to fund the project. So in June 1965, the trust signed an agreement with the MVHS to place the artifacts in the Arms Museum. They can be viewed there beginning Jan. 30, when the museum reopens after dismantling its Christmas exhibit.

Shale also noted that trustees’ goals for this year include submitting a financial report to Judge Rusu by month’s end and updating some documents.