Ronald G. Harrington

Ronald "Ron" Harrington, an only child, was born in 1942 in Baltimore, Maryland. His father worked as a salesman for a steel company, which required the family to move to other states and cities several times. When Harrington was seven, his father suffered a fatal heart attack. Harrington and his mother, Ruth, moved to Cleveland, where his aunt took care of him while his mother worked full time as a secretary at the Statler Hotel. Having moved several times and without siblings or cousins, Harrington was often alone.

From his mother, Harrington learned the values of honesty, respect, and independence. As he entered junior high school, he developed friendships that became his most important relationships. He rarely contemplated his future and was an average student and athlete. In high school, he began working after-school and summer jobs, including one stint unloading boxcars at Ford Motor Company. "I got up at 4 a.m. in order to cross a bridge before it was raised," says Harrington. "If I didn't make it across before then, I would be late to work, which meant they'd assign me to the welding line. That was much less fun than unloading boxcars, so I always tried to be on time." Other jobs that Harrington took on as a young man included selling shoes, coffee dispensers, windows, clothing, and life insurance. He occasionally dreamed about owning his own company one day.

In a meeting with his high school counselor to discuss his future, Harrington surprised her by saying he wanted to attend college. She told him he could try if that was what he wanted; however, given his lackluster grades, she did not think he would succeed. One night many years later while at a Chinese restaurant, Harrington opened a fortune cookie that contained "One of life's greatest achievements is doing something people say you can't do." "I enlarged and framed that scrap of paper," he says. "Whenever someone discourages me, it seems to ignite me to prove them wrong."

Harrington enrolled at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and transferred a year later to Ohio State University (OSU). As he began taking classes in his major, marketing and finance, Harrington realized how relevant education was to his dream of owning a small business. He became a more serious student. At OSU, he also began dating the woman who would become his lifelong partner, Nancy Kurzenberger. They married during his senior year. Upon graduating in 1965, he briefly worked a low-level sales job at General Foods before leaving to join Bonne Bell, a small family-owned cosmetics company in Westlake, Ohio.

Harrington felt that at Bonne Bell, he was in the right place at the right time. The man who hired him, Jess Bell, became his mentor, and the mentorship involved more than business advice. When Harrington was 26, he was rushed to the hospital with chest pains. Although he was never specifically diagnosed, he assumed he had inherited his father's heart condition. Harrington became determined to make sure it would not shorten his life.

"Jess was an athlete and runner. He got me running and thinking more about my health," says Harrington. "He started paying me a dollar for every mile I ran. He bought me my first pair of running shoes. He was a great influence on me." Harrington transformed his life by changing his diet and running five miles a day, six days a week for the next 35 years. In 1976, both men ran the New York Marathon.

At Bonne Bell, Harrington was hired as a salesman and but soon got promoted to sales manager. "I loved my job for the first time in my life," he says. But in 1977, after a decade with Bonne Bell, Harrington had an opportunity to buy stock in a company with his wife's brother. The two brothers-in-law ran a business that manufactured packaging materials for, and distributed supplies to, the restaurant and meatpacking industries. By 1990, Ron and Nancy Harrington had saved enough money to buy and develop a true family business.

Harrington looked at 36 companies before coming across Edgepark Medical Supplies. The banker who showed him Edgepark told him it was going out of business and was unlikely to survive. But Harrington saw an opportunity he could not resist. "I told Nancy we were going to sell medical supplies, and she asked me what I knew about that," he recalls. "I told her I didn't know anything, but I'd soon find out. She supported me. In the end, it was one of the luckiest things that ever happened to us."

Nancy Harrington ran customer service and asked employees to "treat every customer as if they were Ron's mother." Transforming the company into a service-oriented organization helped Edgepark turn the corner toward growth and profitability. Once Harrington's daughter, Jill, and son, Ronnie, joined day-to-day operations, Edgepark became a true family business. Nancy served as vice president of customer relations; Jill was in human resources and was director of charitable giving; and Ronnie was president of a subsidiary, Independence Medical Supplies. The $2 million family business grew quickly and in 2010 was acquired by Cardinal Health for $2 billion. The company experienced 20 consecutive years of both double-digit sales increases and double-digit profit growth. The Harringtons feel the best part of this endeavor was the true joy of taking a successful family journey together.

Because of their experience, the Harringtons believe that opportunities abound in America for anyone willing to get an education and work hard. Harrington says, "I believe free enterprise works best when you have the support structure of family, friends, and community. Our family was involved in Edgepark from very early on, with Nancy and our children serving as key decision makers and co-owners. We're humbled that together we had the incredible opportunity to create a community of jobs, opportunities, and wealth."

Looking back over his business career, Harrington says, "I've always tried to do my best, but I think my biggest advice to others is to lead a balanced life. For me, that involves putting God first, my family second, and my business third. Nancy and I have been married for 54 years, and we have two children and seven grandchildren. For us, that's success."

In 2000, Harrington learned that all four major arteries of his heart were 90 percent blocked. He had quadruple bypass surgery and six weeks later was lifting weights and running six miles per day; he quickly returned to remarkable health, which he continues to enjoy. He is very honored to receive the Horatio Alger Award, but he says he tries not to be proud of it. Why? Because, he says, "We try to avoid pride where possible," all the while acknowledging that this is a constant, and difficult, effort.

Each morning, Harrington reads this passage written by author and theologian C. S. Lewis: "Pride gives no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next person. It is the comparison that makes one proud, the pleasure of being above the rest. Once the element of competition is gone, pride is gone."

Harrington says that if his family's story can help others gain self-confidence and push themselves to the height of their abilities, then he is happy to share it. "I am very impressed with the backgrounds and achievements of the members of the Horatio Alger Association. My family and I consider it a great honor for me to be included among them."

The Harringtons are heavily committed to the idea of giving back. Their philanthropy strategy is simple: if their heart tells them something is right, they commit. They co-foundered a cancer wellness center that offers free support to families touched by cancer, and they have supported many schools and charities in Ohio and Florida.

In 2008, Harrington's experience with heart disease, which kills more than 500,000 Americans every year, prompted his family and him to commit more than $22 million to establish the University Hospitals Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute in Cleveland, Ohio. Strengthened by the power of impact philanthropy to transform the field of medicine, the Harrington family next made a $50 million gift to University Hospitals Case Medical Center to create the Harrington Discovery Institute (HDI), a cross-cutting, global, nonprofit organization that advances medicine and society by accelerating breakthrough drug discoveries into medicines.

HDI, in turn, is part of the larger Harrington Project for Discovery and Development, which also features a mission-driven, for-profit company, BioMotiv. At BioMotiv, former pharmaceutical executives have built a portfolio of development-stage therapeutics for the benefit of patients everywhere.

"My family and I are blessed," says Harrington. "When Edgepark was acquired, it enabled us to help others. With the Harrington Project, we're front and center in the world of impact philanthropy and impact investing to improve global healthcare. This project has evolved into something way beyond anything our family ever imagined."