Honoring a Legacy of Faith, Service, and Opportunity
Rich Bedell | Class of 1974
BSBA, Accountancy
A legacy can take many forms. It can be a family business or property, or heirlooms or traditions passed from one generation to the next. But for Rich Bedell '74, his parents' legacy is defined not by what they accumulated, but by how they lived - with faith, with love for their family, and with a steadfast belief in service and education as the pathway to a meaningful life.
"My parents lived simply," Rich shares. "They were steady, humble, hard-working people who believed deeply in living out the Jesuit example of being men and women for others every day of their lives."
Like many of his generation, Rich's father, Leo Bedell '43, entered military service immediately after graduating from John Carroll through the Navy's V-12 program during World War II. He went through officer training, engineering coursework, and radar school at Harvard before he was deployed to the South Pacific. There, he served as an officer aboard an LCI (landing craft infantry) and survived brutal conditions — including a devastating attack on a reconnaissance mission two days before the invasion of Iwo Jima that killed or wounded most of his ship's crew, earning a Silver Star for his deeds that day.
He rarely spoke about the war. "Like so many World War II veterans, my dad didn't dwell on the trauma," Rich says. "He came home, married my mom, and focused on building a life." That life included ten children, a successful insurance business in Akron, Ohio, volunteer work with the marginalized through the St. Vincent DePaul Society, and - most importantly - a household grounded in faith and love.
Rich's mother, Mary Jo, was instrumental in shaping the family's values. "My dad may have been the one who attended John Carroll, but my mom lived the Jesuit ideals just as deeply," Rich reflects. "She had this incredible sense of purpose, compassion, and strength, with a strong faith and a sense of humor to pull it all together."
Rich recognizes that a Jesuit education shaped the man his father became — and the man he became, too. All six Bedell brothers attended John Carroll, including Rich, who graduated in 1974 with a degree in accounting. "There was never a question in our home that education mattered," he says. "My parents always believed that learning opens doors, expands horizons, and prepares you to do something meaningful in the world."
That belief is at the center of Rich's planned gift, which is an extension of the values his parents lived and passed on. In 2020, Rich and his wife, Kathy, established The Leo '43 and Mary Jo Bedell Scholarship in his parents' names as a way to invest in future John Carroll students, just as his parents invested in him. The scholarship includes both a current-use fund and an endowed fund. This allows for an immediate, annual scholarship for students in financial need, while also ensuring lasting support for future recipients, as the balance of the scholarship remains invested. Scholarships with this structure blend together annual and planned (future) gifts.
"This gift," he explains, "is about honoring my parents and the benefactors who helped me to attend John Carroll in 1970 on a President's Scholarship. It's a way to say thank you, and to help ensure that other students — especially those who have financial need and share the same values as my mom and dad— have access to the same opportunities."
Rich stresses that he hopes his parents' story and the fund he and Kathy have established in their names will encourage others to consider how their own gifts can honor the people who shaped them. "My parents never talked about making a mark on the world," he says. "They just lived in a way that did." He pauses and adds, "This gift is a tribute to who they were - and to the University that helped shape the life they built."