Timken Foundation names new president

For the first time in more than 40 years, there’s a new person heading the Timken Foundation of Canton.

And yes, it’s a Timken — the same family that founded the foundation in 1934 and has run it ever since. It is a family foundation, after all.

The foundation on Sunday, Jan. 9, announced that Robert R. Timken is the foundation’s new president. He replaces Ward J. “Jack” Timken, who has been at the helm since 1980 and oversaw by far the majority of the foundation’s grants to date, which account for more than $400 million in charitable contributions. Jack Timken presided over more than 5,000 of the roughly 6,000 grants the foundation has issued since its inception during his time at the helm, the foundation said in announcing its new president.

Organizations that have received significant support from the foundation include Arts in Stark, Habitat for Humanity, Stark Education Partnership, Stark Economic Development Board, local health systems, colleges and universities, and many others, the foundation noted.

At the end of its most recent fiscal year, on Sept. 30, 2020, the Timken Foundation reported on its Form 990 cash and invested assets valued at more than $255 million and annual distributions of more than $14 million.

Robert Timken has a long history of both charitable support and real estate development, the foundation said in its release. A Canton-area resident, he is a partner in Maryland-based Carmony Development LLC and has developed commercial and residential properties in Maryland, Virginia, and Ohio. He’s a graduate of the College of Wooster and has served on various nonprofit boards in the Canton area, including Arts in Stark, Mercy Medical Center, Canton Country Day School, Downtown Canton Land Bank and the Henry & Louise Timken Foundation.

He’s not the only member of his family rising up in the foundation’s ranks.

The foundation also announced the election of Henry H. “Kurt” Timken II as treasurer, succeeding W.R. “Tim” Timken Jr., who was the former U.S. ambassador to Germany.

Kurt Timken is retired from a career in local and federal law enforcement and served a national security posting with the U.S. Department of Defense as a special agent, Defense Security Service, the foundation stated. Before that, Kurt Timken was a management consultant for Rockwell International as well as an executive with The Timken Co., completing two expatriate assignments at Timken facilities in France and India. He holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and completed the Senior Executive Fellowship program at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, the foundation added.

Both Robert Timken and Kurt Timken have served on the foundation’s board since 2019. Jack Timken and Tim Timken will remain involved as trustees of the foundation, along with fellow trustees Joy A. Timken and Ward J. “Tim” Timken Jr.

Jack Timken is Robert Timken’s father; Kurt Timken is Jack Timken’s nephew and Tim Timken’s son.