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September 6, 2012
MAJOR SCHOLARSHIP GIFT HONORS '64 GRAD NICHOLAS VALENTINO
Villa Angela-St. Joseph High School (VASJ) is pleased to announce the creation of the Nicholas Valentino Scholarship in memory of 1964 St. Joseph graduate Nick Valentino, who passed away in 2010. The scholarship is made possible by a 10-year $100,000 pledge from Mr. Valentino's longtime friend, Mark Haskell of Sedona, Arizona.
"This is a truly remarkable gift to honor a truly remarkable man," said Richard Osborne, VASJ president. "Throughout his life and career, Nick Valentino embodied the ideals of professional excellence and commitment to family fostered by his alma mater. We are deeply grateful to Mark Haskell for helping us carry those ideals to another generation of students."
An attorney and accountant, Mr. Valentino was president of Advisory Services, Inc. in downtown Cleveland from 1984 until his death on December 17, 2010. He was graduated from Cleveland Marshall College of Law in 1976 and began working for Advisory Services the following year. He was graduated from Ohio University with a degree in accounting in 1968. He was admitted to the Ohio Bar in 1977.
Over the three decades of their friendship, Mr. Valentino and Mr. Haskell spent many hours talking about their families and numerous business ventures and ideas. Feeling a profound loss with Mr. Valentino's passing, Mr. Haskell wished to find a special way to memorialize his friend that would carry on for years to come. Furthermore, it was his wish to allow Mr. Valentino's beloved wife, Rose, to continue to keep his memory alive through her involvement with the VASJ scholarship.
Mrs. Valentino is currently helping to determine the specific criteria for the scholarship, which will provide tuition assistance for students who represent the principles that guided her husband's life. A tireless worker from a young age, Mr. Valentino worked as a courier for the Jones Day law firm in Cleveland after school at St. Joseph. He also worked summers in the service department at Edgewater Chevrolet.
He joined Ernst & Ernst (now Ernst & Young) accounting after his graduation from Ohio University. He enlisted in the U.S. Army and later was employed by the Navy Finance Center (Cleveland) as an accountant.
He and Rose married in 1973. Mr. Valentino coached girls' Little League for the couple's daughter, Andrea, and boys' soccer for their son, Daniel. He loved Dan's years at the University of Notre Dame and cheering for the Fighting Irish, and spending father/daughter weekends at Miami University with Andrea.
Mr. Valentino was a model train enthusiast who also enjoyed fishing trips with his buddies, high school football games and family vacations.
Villa Angela-St. Joseph High School is a Catholic, comprehensive, co-educational high school committed to academic excellence and the development of student gifts. With a college preparatory curriculum rooted in Ursuline and Marianist core values of education, service, justice and diversity, VASJ strives to bring each student to a deeper commitment to Jesus Christ and Gospel values.
The school's Catholic values are woven throughout every aspect of student life and learning. As the only school in the world that is co-sponsored by the Ursuline Sisters and Marianist Brothers, a VASJ education is uniquely different. VASJ students become lifelong learners who transform the world.
Founded in 1990 with the merging of Villa Angela Academy (1878-1990) and Saint Joseph High School (1950-1990), VASJ has a rich past and is celebrating over 130 years of educational excellence in the Diocese of Cleveland. For decades, VASJ has enrolled exceptional students from Catholic, private and public schools across the Cleveland area who want to grow spiritually, excel academically and be challenged athletically, and who are open to building friendships with students different from themselves.
One hundred percent of VASJ's graduating seniors this past year are now attending college.
For more information or to contribute to the Nicholas Valentino Scholarship, please contact VASJ President Richard Osborne.