‘Key architect’ of Columbus Foundation dies
RICHARD HEER OMAN
Richard Heer Oman, an attorney who helped guide the Columbus Foundation through years of expansive growth, has died.
Oman, 91, who had homes in Columbus and Nantucket, Massachusetts, died on Wednesday in Massachusetts, according to the Columbus Foundation.
A Columbus native, Oman earned his undergraduate degree from Ohio State University in 1948 and went on to graduate from the university’s Law School in 1951.
Oman was an attorney for Ohio National Bank from 1951 until 1955, when he became a partner at the Isaac, Postlewaite, O’Brien & Oman law firm in Columbus.
He began his work with the Columbus Foundation as a director in 1955 and served through 1978. He remained as its legal counsel until 2005, when he also retired from the Columbus law firm Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP, where he was a partner from 1991 to 1996. Before joining Vorys, Sater in 1990, he was a partner at Porter, Wright, Morris & Arthur (and its predecessor firm) from 1972 to 1989.
The Columbus Foundation provides philanthropic assistance and resources for many community programs and individuals. The organization now has assets of more than $1.8 billion and is considered among the top 10 community foundations in the nation.
When Oman was honored for his work with the foundation in 1990, it was noted that the Columbus Foundation’s assets had grown then to $150 million from less than $590,000 in 1955 — mirroring the expansive growth of the city.
It was Oman’s philosophy that the foundation “can and should be the conscience of the community,” said Douglas Kridler, president and CEO of the foundation.
“It would be hard to sum up the various ways Dick helped the Columbus Foundation get to where we are today,” Kridler said in a prepared statement.
Oman “was in many ways a key architect of our growth and success, beginning in the 1950s,” Kridler said. “His legal work is the foundation on which the (Columbus) Foundation sits. His early attention to marketing in the mid ‘50s greatly added to its growth and was truly innovative at the time.”
Funeral arrangements are pending.