Seventeen years after her death, through her generosity, the funds that formed her foundation have improved the lives of countless residents, said Ron Ely, executor of her estate.
“She was good for the Middletown community,” Ely said.
When Mrs. Knoll passed away on Nov. 2, 1992, the Miriam G. Knoll Foundation was established with a $4.5 million gift, and she donated nearly $3 million more to the Middletown Community Foundation.
While few in this town can remember Knoll, buildings at Miami University Middletown, Atrium Medical Center, Weatherwax Golf Course, and the Middletown Community Foundation bear her name.
Her foundation and the Middletown foundation also make periodic and substantial donations to numerous local organizations.
Duane Gordon, executive director of the Middletown Community Foundation, said Knoll, whom he never met, “cared very deeply” for her hometown and she wanted to leave “a lasting legacy.”
In the early 1970s, after her husband, Arthur, passed away, Knoll told Ely, director of the trust department at First National Bank, she wanted to “do something for Middletown.”
From structures to scholarships, Knoll family’s generosity lives on
Every Friday, Ron Ely, then director of the trust department at First National Bank, withdrew $100 out of Miriam Knoll’s account, and dropped it off at her house.
He was her personal ATM.
That little bit of cash lasted her until the following Friday.
As Ely said, Knoll, a widow who died in 1992 at 86, was “very frugal, very quiet.”
The money she saved is making noise in the Middletown community.
During a meeting with Ely, Knoll said she wanted to establish a foundation — later named the Miriam G. Knoll Foundation — so she could “do something for Middletown.”
When she died, she funded her foundation with $4.5 million and she left the Middletown Community Foundation nearly $3 million, its largest gift at the time.
Knoll’s husband, Arthur, died in 1972, and they had no children or immediate survivors. No one seems to know how the Knolls obtained their wealth, but Ely said her family owned a large farm in Monroe, and when Interstate 75 was built, a part of the land was sold to the state.
Over the years, the Knoll foundation has made many significant donations. Buildings at Miami University Middletown, Atrium Medical Center and Weatherwax Golf Course bear her name, and the foundation funds numerous projects and scholarships in the community.
The Miriam G. Knoll Foundation board of directors — Ely, John Sawyer and Bill Schaefer — review grant applications quarterly, and special consideration is given to agencies that assist children, Ely said.
One of those is Abilities First.
Tom Wheeler, former director of Abilities First, said the Knoll Foundation has donated more than $273,000 since 1994. Most of that money has been used for what Wheeler called “essential things” like building improvements.
He referred to the foundation as the “legs of our organization.”
Then he got emotional. “They have carried us through some of the worst situations. Without them, we could never have grown to what we are today.”
The same is true at MU Middletown, said Susan Armacost, director of advancement.
When the university wanted to expand Johnston Hall to include a community center, the Knoll Foundation donated the necessary funds. The building, which includes Hawk Haven and a dining facility, bears Knoll’s name.
The Knoll Foundation also funds many scholarships at MUM, including ones for non-traditional and part-time students and a general student scholarship where Middletown High School graduates are given preference, Armacost said.
How important is the Knoll Foundation at MUM?
“Crucial,” Armacost said. “It’s that simple.”
Mike Stautberg, executive director of the Atrium Medical Center Foundation, said Knoll’s foundation pledged $75,000 to the hospital’s new heart center in 1999, and since then, has added $100,000.
The Knoll Foundation has given $40,000 to assist in other projects at the hospital, he said.
Knoll’s generosity, Stautberg said, “makes the world a better place. Her legacy lives on.”
Duane Gordon, executive director of the Middletown Community Foundation, called Knoll “not a showy woman,” but someone who had “an imaginable impact” on the community.
Doug Bean, director of the Middletown Public Library, said some foundation funds were used to construct the Library Lion that sits outside the building.
Sawyer said he hopes her money “fills the gaps” in the community. He said they try to assist those with “true needs” like shelter, food and clothing.
Helen Ramsdell, 102, who lives in Mount Pleasant Retirement Village, is one of the few people still alive who remember Knoll.
The two shared a love of music and they took turns driving to voice and piano lessons at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music.
As Ramsdell recalled her friendship, she laughed and called Knoll “a very unusual woman who had all the money.”
About the Author