Last Aug. 5, Oneida Public Library officials joined Mr. and Mrs. Fearon on the site of the future Oneida Library on Main Street to receive the Fearons’ latest donation to the library’s Capital Campaign. Pictured left to right, Director Carolyn Gerakopoulos, Board President Eileen Kinsella, Ada May Fearon and Robert H. Fearon, Jr.
(Oneida, NY – Aug. 2013) On Aug. 5, Mr. and Mrs. Robert H. Fearon, Jr., topped their earlier donation to the Oneida Public Library Capital Campaign with a second $10,000 check delivered Aug. 4 at the site of the new OPL facility, Main and Elizabeth streets.
On hand to receive the check were OPL Board President Eileen Kinsella and OPL Director Carolyn Gerakopoulos.
“We were extremely excited when Bob and Ada May Fearon started off our capital campaign last year with a donation of $10,000,” Kinsella said. “With this additional donation to the campaign, I can’t express how much we appreciate the Fearons’ endorsement of and support for our new library project. The Fearon family for three generations has been a loyal friend and advocate of the Oneida Library, and today Bob and Ada May Fearon have shown how devoted they are to the future enrichment of everyone in our community.”
Back in the early 1950s, Robert H. Fearon, Sr., president of Oneida Valley National Bank, was president of the Oneida Library Board of Trustees and spearheaded the drive to build a new library facility at 220 Broad St. to serve the City of Oneida. The elder Fearon continued to serve on the library board for over 20 years.
Robert Fearon, Jr., succeeded his father as president of the Oneida Valley National Bank in 1971 and served as president until the early 1990s. The Fearons’ children, Mary Pat Adams and Robert “Sukosh” Fearon, continue to live and work in Oneida.
The Fearons’ total donation of $20,000 will go to the $5.5-million OPL Capital Campaign, which is currently in its “silent phase.”