UA Board chairman emeritus earns national fraternity’s top honor

Dr. Donald E. Demkee, chairman emeritus of The University of Akron’s Board of Trustees and a 1960 graduate of the University, has been honored by Phi Delta Theta with its most prestigious recognition, the Raymond L. Gardner Award, for 2009. The annual award is presented to a distinguished alumnus who has made the most significant contribution to the fraternity, his community and the world of higher education. Dr. Demkee is the third Akron graduate to receive the honor, joining well-known businessman and philanthropist Paul E. Martin, UA Class of 1935, and the late W. Richard Wright, a respected educational administrator and lobbyist who graduated from UA in 1937.

A native of Barberton, Dr. Demkee earned a D.D.S. at The Ohio State University in 1965, and then served as a captain in the U.S. Air Force and the Air Force Reserve. He completed a residency in oral and maxillofacial surgery at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.

From 1971 to 1999, he built and maintained a thriving private practice in oral and maxillofacial surgery in the Wooster area. He also emerged as a civic leader, humanitarian, philanthropist, active participant in professional societies, private pilot and horse breeder. He was active on the boards of several Wayne County organizations, and has risen to prominent positions in a number of professional organizations, including past president of the Ohio State Dental Board, former chairman of the American Dental Association’s Council on Dental Education and Licensure, and member of the Northeast Regional Board of Dental Examiners.

Commitment to higher education constant

He also is a lifelong supporter of higher education, and has devoted considerable time and energy to his undergraduate alma mater by serving on and leading its Board of Trustees. Dr. Demkee was appointed to UA’s Board of Trustees in 1999, and served on several board committees before he was elected vice chairman in 2003. His fellow board members elected him chairman in 2004.

Though he retired from full-time practice in 1999 and from part-time practice in 2003, Dr. Demkee continues to volunteer his services to numerous professional and community organizations at the local, state, regional and national levels, as he did throughout his career. He also participated in a variety of volunteer projects, including the Central America Medical Outreach, the Indian Health Service, People to People Ministries, and Health Care 2000.

He has received numerous awards, including professional recognition from the Pierre Fauchard Academy, the American College of Dentists and the International College of Dentists, as well as the Ralph Davenport Mershon Award from Ohio State, the Founders Award from Phi Delta Theta, The University of Akron Medal of Honor and alumni award and honorary doctorate, and resolutions of honor from the Ohio State Senate and the Ohio House of Representatives.

Scholarships established to benefit many students

A life member of the University’s Alumni Association, Dr. Demkee has funded a variety of student scholarships, including the Demkee Scholarship of the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity and four internships for University of Akron students in the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics. His generosity extends to other educational institutions, with scholarships to St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception school in Wooster, the Cleveland Diocese school system, and The Ohio State University.  He also funded the Demkee Medical Library at Wooster Community Hospital.

Dr. Demkee and his wife, Imogene, live in Wooster. They have two adult sons, Samuel and Andrew.

Media contact: Sarah Lane, 330-972-7429 or slane@uakron.edu.