Dick and Barb. Two middle-aged teachers at an Upstate New York college, one a bachelor, the other a widow. Two lives lived generously, despite vastly different backgrounds. A meeting in a church parking lot. A romance. A marriage. From this intersection, their lives grew together, forming a combination that, ultimately, worked much as two elements in a chemical formula to create a potent Catalyst For Change in Oswego County.
This is the story of Barbara Ann Irvine, who grew up as a child of the Great Depression, and Richard Shubert Shineman, whose own privileged upbringing was further enriched by the community- mindedness and generosity shown by his parents.
While Dick Shineman inherited and further grew a fortune beyond most people's imaginations, the self-effacing chemistry professor had no earthly interest in the trappings of wealth. He worked with his wife, now known as Barbara Palmer Shineman, to make substantial gifts during his lifetime. Dick's last will and testament set aside $25 million for a foundation to benefit Oswego County and Central New York. His widow, then in her 80s, followed through. So was born the Richard S. Shineman Foundation.
Barbara, now nearing 93 and always resolute, wanted a book to keep alive Dick's story and capture the evolution and growing significance of the foundation and its benefit to the county and region in economic development and environment, parks and the arts, human services and historic preservation, and so much more.
