“I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”—Einstein.
Don Kania died yesterday and left a huge hole in United Way’s heart and mine. He battled ALS in such a heroic, peaceful, loving way. Don was a physicist. And he and his wife moved to Ashland when he sold his company and became farmers and ranchers.
Have you ever been lucky enough to be in a room full of people and you get to sit at the smartest table? I have been. In 2019, I met Don Kania at an Oregon Shakespeare Festival board retreat only because I ended up at the smartest table in the room. I’ll never know how I was so lucky. And I will treasure that day forever.
I somehow convinced Don to join the United Way board and he became board president quite quickly. We did really cool work together. We mapped our work against the Community Health Improvement Plan and the Community Health Assessment to see where we were on point and where we might be off.
The weekend after the Almeda and South Obenchain Fires in 2020, I called him. He pledged a significant gift. I told him that was great, but I really wanted him to chair our Fire Fund. We needed to do this right and fast. He immediately said yes, and we went on to raise more than $6 million to help people in our community. He was all in on helping people, branding it correctly, calling his friends, learning about innovative approaches to housing and everything else that came his way. He was a brilliant philanthropist and strategist. Many people will write about their experience with Don. He was an avid collector of rockets, among other things. His imagination was boundless. He served many boards of directors both for profit and not for profit. He loved coaching people to take their own next best step.
We needed to add to our office building, and he fronted us the money through a recoverable grant. He wanted no recognition. I asked him if we could get his handprint behind the building, so we’d know forever. Now I can share that this is his handprint at the back of our new building. Philanthropy is often a private matter. Doing good in the world isn’t ever. He did good all the time.
We always had these amazing rambling conversations about all kinds of things, mostly ideas. Once we were sharing about Paris and I shared I had a favorite stationery store. He said what? And on his next trip, he went there! And he loved it too. He even brought me a pen back! And the last two years, I’ve sent him cards from our favorite stationery store. He loved them. I loved him.
He challenged me. He inspired me. I will miss him so much.
