Endowed & Named Collection Funds: Home

The Carl Joseph Memorial Fund was established in 2002 by businessman and philanthropist Albert Joseph (1920-2008) in honor of his brother Carl Joseph (1915-1944), a Toledo labor and social justice activist killed in action during World War II. George Joseph, Albert's son, continued to support the fund beyond his late father's original bequest.

Carl and Albert Joseph were born in Iowa to immigrant parents from Lebanon (then part of Syria). In the early 1920s, the family moved to Toledo, Ohio, and settled in the "Little Syria" enclave of the city's Old North End neighborhood. While growing up, Carl (pictured in Army uniform) developed a strong interest in history, politics, social justice, and the American labor movement. After graduating from Waite High School, he went to work as a longshoreman and soon became a prominent labor leader and activist in the Toledo area. In 1938 at age 22, he was elected president of his local union and ran for the state legislature on a social justice platform. He enrolled at The University of Toledo in 1939 and again in 1941, but his activism and World War II interrupted his studies. On June, 6, 1944, he was killed by a German sniper in Normandy, France, after parachuting in with the 82nd Airborne Division as part of the Allied D-Day invasion of western Europe.

Albert Joseph (pictured in Navy uniform with siblings Nazema and Carl) graduated from The University of Toledo and was a year into law school when World War II intervened. During the war, he served for 3½ years as a U.S. Navy lieutenant in the Pacific. After returning home, he built a successful career in automotive advertising. In 1964, he moved to Chicago to take an executive position with Hunter Publishing Company.  Along with entertainer Danny Thomas, a boyhood friend, he was one of the prime forces behind the creation of St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. He later chaired the board of both the hospital and its fundraising arm and continued to serve the hospital in various capacities for the rest of his life.

The Carl Joseph Memorial Fund is used to purchase books on subjects of importance and interest to its namesake, including social justice and social activism, the labor movement, political theory, war and peace, and American history.  Click here to browse a list of titles recently purchased with Carl Joseph funds. Most of the books in the Carl Joseph Collection are shelved in a specially designated area on Carlson Library's fifth floor, which also includes study alcoves and study tables that have been renovated and refurbished with funds from Albert Joseph's bequest.

Click here for additional information on Carl and Albert Joseph and the Carl Joseph Memorial Library Collection and Reading Commons.

Photos:  1) Carl Joseph; 2) Albert Joseph, sister Nazema, brother Carl

The J. Howard Kramer Library Book Fund was established in 1968 through a bequest by its namesake, J. Howard Kramer (1893-1966). He was a Toledo native and University of Toledo alumnus (B.A.,1917; LL.B.,* 1918), who also earned degrees from Northwestern University (diploma in commerce, 1915; M.B.A., 1926).  Most of his career was spent in Chicago working in the field of accounting and auditing.

In October 1915, he banded together with several other University of Toledo students to form the beginnings of the first fraternity on campus. It was initially known as the Cresset Fraternity, then became Phi Kappa Chi in 1921, then Epsilon-Epsilon Chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha National Fraternity in 1955. Over 100 years later, the organization is still active on the UToledo campus.

Income from the Kramer endowed fund is used to purchase books in the liberal arts and law disciplines for The University of Toledo Libraries collections. Click here to browse a list of titles recently purchased with Kramer endowed funds.

* The Bachelor of Law degree (Latin: Legum Baccalaureus, LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree. Once the primary law degree in the U.S, it was phased out in the 1960's in favor of the Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree. It is still conferred in the UK and numerous other jurisdictions.

Image: Pi Kappa Alpha National Fraternity logo

The National Endowment for the Humanities Library Endowed Fund was established in May 1985 by a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) challenge grant. The grant matched federal funds with private donations from a number of local benefactors including Michael Stranahan, the Edward O. Fallis Estate, and The University of Toledo Alumni Association. NEH challenge grants support the humanities by providing funds to preserve and provide access to library and museum collections, conduct scholarship and research in the humanities, and develop educational programs in the humanities for various audiences.

UToledo Libraries utilizes most of the annual available income from the NEH endowment to purchase scholarly electronic resources in a variety of humanities subjects. These resources include databases, e-books, e-journals, and streaming media products. Some examples of currently accessible resources that are fully or partially subsidized by the NEH endowed fund are: JSTOR e-books and e-journals, Cambridge University Press e-books and e-journals, Kanopy streaming videos, American History Founding Era Collection of digitized papers and correspondence of major figures of the early American republic, the Oxford English Dictionary, and EBSCOhost research databases such as America History and Life, Art FullText, Film and Television Literature Index, Humanities International Complete, Literary Reference Center Plus, and MLA International Bibliography.

A small amount of the NEH annual allocation is also used to purchase print books and DVDs in the humanities for the Libraries' collections.  Click here to browse a list of titles recently purchased with NEH endowed funds.

The Benjamin Jack Schall and Shirley L. Schall Jews and Sports Library Fund was established in January 2024 by the Toledo Jewish Community Foundation, with philanthropic support from the Schall, Markoff, and Konz families. The fund will be used by University Libraries over the next five years to develop a collection that highlights the history and contributions of Jews in the sports professions, including Jewish athletes, coaches, sportscasters, sports journalists, sports agents, and team owners and executives. This fund is intended to sustain the life and memory of Ben J. Schall (1917-1998) and the legacy he left behind in the world of sports, as well as his wife and business partner, Shirley L. Schall (née Meltzer, 1928-2019), who worked alongside her husband of 49 years in their family-owned business, Jack’s Furniture House and Showroom.

During his initial time at The University of Toledo from 1936-39, Ben built an impressive legacy in sports, earning a varsity basketball letter in 1939. From 1941-42, He played for the Toledo Jim White Chevrolets in the National Basketball League (NBL). Ben Schall served during the Second World War as a non-commissioned officer in the United States Army from 1942-1946, returning to his education at the University of Toledo where he lettered in Baseball in 1947. He continued to play professional basketball from 1946-1947, first for the NBL’s Toledo Jeeps and then for the Detroit Gems. In 1948, the National Basketball League merged with the Basketball Association of America to form the current National Basketball Association.

After graduating from the University of Toledo and with the NBL merger, Ben Schall went on to continue his basketball career for a total of 72 years, playing in all-star appearances in the national Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) tournaments and on the opposing team for the Harlem Globetrotters. His other athletic accomplishments included numerous Senior Olympic gold medals and a softball triple against the famed Eddie Feigner and his “King and His Court.”

In 1995, Benjamin J. Schall was inducted into the first class of the Toledo Jewish Community Center Sports Hall of Fame and was a member of Congregation Etz Chayim, B’nai Brith, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the Toledo Jewish Community Center Sports Hall of Fame Selection Committee.

This non-endowed fund will support the purchase of print and digital resources for the Jews and Sports Collection in the Carlson Library. The first resource purchased for this collection is Total Basketball: The Ultimate Basketball Encyclopedia by Leonard Koppet, Ken Shouler, and Bob Ryan.

Click here to browse a list of items recently purchased with the Ben and Shirley Schall Jews and Sports Library Fund.

Photo: Ben & Shirley Schall

The Jung See Sing Memorial Endowed Fund for Asian-American Studies was established in September 2000 with an initial donation by Doris Sing Hedler (1918-2019) in honor of her mother, Jung See Sing (1895-1976). An additional contribution to the endowment was made in September 2019 by Edward Yuke Sing (1921-2021) upon the death of his sister Doris.

The Sing siblings (see photos) were members of Toledo's first Chinese-American family. Their father, Charles Yuke Sing, arrived in Toledo around 1910 to open a laundry with his father, Loo Fook, who had followed fellow villagers from Kaiping, China, to California after the Gold Rush of 1848. Charles accompanied his father back to China in 1912, but returned to Toledo to live after his father died in 1915. Despite the Chinese Exclusion Act, the first and only major federal legislation to explicitly suspend immigration for a specific nationality, he was able to bring his wife, Jung See Sing, because his birth certificate documented that he had been born in California. Charles Yuke Sing spoke little English; Jung See Sing had bound feet and no formal education. Through hard work and perseverance, they were able to meet the challenges of adapting to a completely different culture while maintaining their business and raising seven children. Education was emphasized, and all seven children (Daniel, Doris, Ruth, Edward, Calvin, Albert, and Paul) graduated from college as did all 27 grandchildren.

Doris Sing Hedler earned bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Toledo. She dedicated her adult life to teaching, education, and community involvement. She traveled extensively but remained a proud Toledo resident for most of her life.

Edward Yuke Sing earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Ohio State University and a master's degree from SUNY Buffalo.  His 50-year career as an engineer included government, military, and corporate work in thermodynamics, aerodynamics, and propulsion transmission.

Income from the Sing endowed fund is used to purchase collection materials that support research in Asian-American studies and the Asian-American experience. Click here to browse a list of items recently purchased with Sing endowed funds.

Photos: Doris Sing Hedler, Edward Yuke Sing

The Margaret M. Papp Perry Memorial Endowment Fund was established in December 1988 by Richard R. Perry (1926-2019) in honor of his first wife Margaret Magdelene Papp Perry (1926-1988). Richard Perry (pictured below) was a University of Toledo alumnus and long-time faculty member and administrator. He retired in 1990 but continued to teach and advise students for another 16 years as Professor Emeritus of Higher Education. Margaret Perry was Assistant Professor of Library Administration and a reference librarian in The University of Toledo's Carlson Library for 11 years prior to her retirement in 1986.

The Perry fund was established to support development and maintenance of a collection of materials and resources related to the history and culture of Hungary and the Magyar-Hungarian people. Margaret Papp Perry was a second-generation Hungarian-American. Her parents, Katie Toth Papp (1893-1991) and Emery Papp (1890-1962), immigrated to the U.S. from Hungary in 1909 and 1910, respectively, and were married in Toledo in 1914. They raised their family in the Birmingham neighborhood of Toledo, the city's Hungarian ethnic enclave. In 1983, at the request of interested Birmingham residents, Richard and Margaret Perry collaborated on a publication entitled the Origin of the Magyar-Hungarians, Language, Homeland, Migrations, and Legends to the Conquest. The document (cover pictured above) was intended for presentation in a lecture-seminar series associated with efforts to create a Hungarian cultural center in the neighborhood.

The original Perry fund agreement stipulated that materials purchased for the Hungarian culture collection be housed in the Ward M. Canady Center for Special Collections located on the fifth floor of UToledo's Carlson Library. Materials in the Canaday Center are non-circulating. In March 2022, the Perry family updated the agreement to provide for increased availability and accessibility of the collection going forward. The revised agreement permits purchase of relevant materials for Carlson's circulating collections. In addition, it supports use of the endowment to subsidize digitization of rare non-circulating Perry books in the Canaday Center and to sponsor outreach and promotion of the Perry collection and Hungarian culture in general. Perry family members currently serving as fund contacts and advisors to The University of Toledo Libraries regarding fund expenditures include: UToledo Professor Emerita Barbara Rondelli Perry, wife of Richard Perry, and Kathryn Perry Funk and Kristen D. Perry, daughters of Richard and Margaret Perry. (Kathryn Perry Funk, Richard Perry, and Barbara Rondelli Perry are pictured in the adjacent photo.)

Click here to browse a list of titles recently purchased with income from Perry endowed funds. Click here to browse a complete list of all titles purchased. Click here for more information on the Memorial Hungarian Culture Endowment Collection.

Photos: 1) Richard Perry; 2) Cover of manuscript by Richard & Margaret Perry; 3) Kathryn Perry Funk, Richard Perry, & Barbara Rondelli Perry at the Birmingham Branch of the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library in 2005. (The Perrys donated the oil painting behind them, "Freedom of Hope" by Robert Garcia, which celebrates the Hungarian immigrant experience in Toledo.)

The J. Lester Kobacker Library Fund was established in November 1982 with a bequest from the trust estate of J. Lester Kobacker, M.D. (1900-1982), a long-time Toledo cardiologist. Dr. Kobacker had served as chief of cardiology and medicine at Toledo Hospital and Riverside Hospital (which closed in 1982) and as chief of staff and cardiology at the former Maumee Valley Hospital (precursor of MCO Hospital and UToledo Medical Center). He retired in 1979.

J. Lester Kobacker was born in Pennsylvania, the only child of Morris and Sadie (Silverman) Kobacker. They moved to Toledo in 1904, where his father and uncle opened a furniture store on Summit Street bearing the family name. After graduating from Scott High School (1917), he earned his B.A. degree from the University of Michigan (1921) and M.D. degree from Harvard University (1924). He served as a  private in the U.S. Army during World War I and held a lieutenant's commission in the Army Medical Reserve Corps from 1926 to 1930. He was a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy Medical Corps during World War II, and from 1944 to 1946, he headed the naval hospital in the Solomon Islands.

After returning Toledo, he practiced in the 300 block of West Woodruff Avenue and later at his home on Scottwood Avenue. He also owned a 50-acre farm on the outskirts of Toledo, where for 25 years pursued his avocation of training and breeding Arabian horses, an interest he inherited from his father.

Income from the Kobacker endowed fund is used to purchase books and other resources for The University of Toledo Libraries collections in a variety of disciplines. Click here to browse a list of books recently purchased with Kobacker endowed funds.

Photos: 1) J. Lester Kobacker (ca.1918); 2) J. Lester Kobacker, M.D. (ca.1942)

The Monroe F. Hess Endowment Fund was established in June 1987 with an initial contribution from Nicholas S. Gimbel, M.D. (1918-1988) in memory of his father, Monroe F. Hess (1895-1967).  Dr. Gimbel (born Monroe F. Hess, Jr.)  simultaneously donated a large collection of books on the history of financial markets and financial speculation to The University of Toledo's College of Business Administration. The collection originally belonged to his father, a Wall Street broker for over 30 years.

The Hess Collection, now housed in the University Libraries' Canaday Center, has a concentration of titles on "technical analysis," an investment evaluation methodology that looks at past market data (primarily price and volume) to predict future performance. The stipulated intent of the Hess endowment was to provide funds for preserving the donated books and for purchasing new library materials in the area of technical analysis.

Click here to browse a list of items recently purchased with Hess endowed funds.

 Photo: Monroe F. Hess

The Emeritus Faculty Library Fund was established by The University of Toledo Alumni Association as an endowed fund in 1981. It is used by UToledo Libraries to purchase collection materials to honor retired University of Toledo faculty and staff and to support special purchases related to faculty achievement.

Each year, books in areas corresponding with the research and teaching specialties of recently retired faculty members are selected for purchase with these funds. In addition, the funds are periodically used to purchase titles authored or edited by UToledo faculty members and for books selected by faculty members recently promoted or achieving tenure. This fund is also used to support special collection development projects such as: updating the Libraries' test preparation and exam review materials for students applying to graduate and professional programs, and establishing an an anti-racist pedagogy book collection.

Click here to browse a list of titles recently purchased with Emeritus Faculty endowed funds

The Lloyd B. Lapp History Books Fund was established by its namesake, University of Toledo alumnus and long-time history professor Lloyd B. Lapp (1915-2006). After graduating from UToledo (B.A. Education, 1937; M.A. History, 1940), he studied at the University of Michigan then served overseas in the Army during World War II before joining the University's history department in 1946 as an assistant professor. He retired in 1984 as professor emeritus.

During his nearly 40 years at the University, Professor Lapp (pictured above) primarily taught American colonial history and constitutional history. He also served as an adviser in the history department and in the College of Arts and Sciences. 

While on the UToledo faculty and later in retirement, he and his wife Betty J. Lapp (1921-2002), also a UToledo graduate, established numerous endowed scholarships and funds. These include: the Lloyd B. Lapp History Books Fund; Lloyd and Betty Lapp Academic Award in History; Betty J. Lapp Scholarship for students in history, economics, or political science; Betty Ash Lapp Award for students in the College of Arts and Sciences or College of Education; Arnold W. Lapp Scholarship Fund in Accounting (in honor of his brother, an accounting professor); and the Bertha and William Lapp Endowment for Anglo-American Constitutional History (in honor of his parents).

He and his wife also supported many philanthropic causes in the Toledo community, including the Library Legacy Foundation of the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library, the Toledo Museum of Art, the Toledo Symphony, and the Toledo Community Foundation.

Income from the Lapp History Books Fund is used to purchase books that enhance the Libraries' collection in all areas and subtopics in the discipline of history. Click here to browse a list of titles recently purchased with Lapp endowed funds.

Photo: Lloyd B. Lapp

Please direct any questions or comments about this guide or the Libraries' endowed and named collection funds to:

Derek Wilmott
Acquisitions & Collection Management Librarian
University of Toledo Libraries
Phone: 419.530.7984