Late judge's bequest to support Lowville projects

LOWVILLE — The Northern New York Community Foundation will use a six-figure gift from a late judge's estate to support community projects in the town.

"Lewis County has always been an important piece of what the foundation has done," said Rande S. Richardson, foundation executive director. "This just solidifies it."

Mr. Richardson said he is not certain of the exact amount of the gift from the estate of George R. Davis, who served as Lewis County judge for 20 years and Lowville town historian for 18 years. "But it is substantial," he said. "It's going to be in the quarter-million dollar range."

The bequest should enable about $10,000 in grant funding annually, Mr. Richardson said. Only projects within the town of Lowville will be eligible, he said.

"It allows us to fund initiatives that we may not be able to fund out of our normal grant funds," Mr. Richardson said.

The foundation administers other community-specific funds, including the A. Eleanor Jackson Fund for Gouverneur projects.

With state line-item and federal earmark funds drying up, designated funding for local projects will be welcome, said Kenneth J. McAuliffe, foundation board president and Lowville Academy and Central School District superintendent.

"There are a lot of places where $10,000 would make a huge difference," he said.

Mr. McAuliffe said the bequest reflects the late judge's love for the community and school district.

"It's very typically George Davis, I think," he said.

Mr. Davis, a 1935 graduate of Lowville Academy, died in February at the age of 91.

He was inducted into the Lewis County Historical Society Hall of Fame in 2004, and, in 2008, was named both the county's Peacemaker of the Year and honorary chairman for the school's bicentennial celebration.

A red oak tree was recently planted on the school's front lawn off North State Street in his memory.

Mr. Davis in 1998 established the Leon A. Davis Fund, which provides scholarships to LACS graduates, with the foundation in honor of his father, a past school district superintendent. He also created a fund in 2000 in memory of his wife, Joan, that provides periodic grants in support of Lewis County initiatives.

"He had a history of working with the foundation," Mr. McAuliffe said.

All foundation grant recipients are ultimately selected by its board of directors, Mr. Richardson said.

However, a three-person advisory committee — consisting of the village mayor, LACS district superintendent and principal clerk or law assistant to the county judge — is to recommend which projects are awarded from the George Davis Fund, he said.

"These people would work with the foundation and determine the funding priorities in any given year," Mr. Richardson said. "So you maintain a little more local input."

The first round of grants from the new fund will likely be awarded some time next year, he said.