History

The William J. and Dorothy K. O'Neill Family

William, born in 1906, was the youngest offour children born to his Irish and German immigrant parents.

Dorothy Kundtz was born in 1910 to Hungarian and German parents. She was the youngest of their nine children.

William and Dorothy both grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and were raised in the Catholic family tradition. After graduation from Notre Dame University and St. Mary-of-the-Woods College respectively, they returned to Cleveland and were married.

William, with his brothers Hugh and Francis, started and acquired a number of trucking, leasing and transportation companies in the 1940s and 50s. These companies were eventually brought together as Leaseway Transportation Corporation and taken public in 1961. William was the corporation's first president and later became chairman of its board.

Under William's stewardship, and that of his brothers (and later his son and nephews), Leaseway Transportation grew to become a billion dollar a year enterprise, with operations throughout the United States and in foreign countries as well.

Throughout his life, William was noted for his philanthropy. He died in 1983.

Dorothy's life was spent raising her children and nurturing her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Devoted to her family, she will long be remembered as a constant source of wisdom, courage and good humor to family and friends alike.

In 1987, Dorothy and her eldest son, William J. O'Neill Jr., established The William J. and Dorothy K. O'Neill Foundation, a private, family foundation organized to render support "exclusively for charitable, religious, scientific, literary, or educational purposes, either directly or by contributions, to organizations which qualify as exempt organizations under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code."

Dorothy died in 1998, and is now survived by six children, nineteen grandchildren and thirty-one great-grandchildren, many of whom play active roles in the Foundation.