November 28, 2010; Source: Cincinnati.com | Roger Grein, 68, lives simply in his modest home in Lockland, Ohio. He is an unmarried accountant—and he is a philanthropist who has given away more than $7 million over the years both directly and indirectly through providing money for students to use to practice the act of philanthropy. He funds student philanthropy projects at 16 colleges and 18 high schools in Ohio and Kentucky, programs that help young people learn how to give in an informed way. Just recently though, after Grein made commitments to the students, the investments from which he funded all of this went south, demolishing much of his personal wealth so now he is out pounding the pavement looking for pledges from others that will allow him to make good on his intentions for the student groups.

Grein’s personal story reads like a Horatio Alger story. It is well worth reading in the linked article. He was adopted and then found to have cerebral palsy. He worked very hard to make a life and a career and he invested his savings which allowed him to become not only a philanthropist but a mentor for up and coming donors.—Ruth McCambridge