James Oelschlager ’64, who made a living in the stock market but took more pleasure investing in people, died Sept. 29, 2024, at age 81.
One of Denison’s most generous donors, Oelschlager and his wife, Vanita, changed lives, bankrolled scholarships, and financed dreams. While the couple dined with heads of state such as Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, and Mikhail Gorbachev, their aim was to enrich the lives of those unable to afford a seat at the table.
In the wake of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Oelschlager learned of a firefighter named Douglas Oelschlager (no relation) who had perished at the World Trade Center. He contacted the widow and made sure the college tuition of her two young daughters was covered.
“There were hundreds, if not thousands, of examples of my father helping people under the radar,” said his son, Mark.
Growing up in Pittsburgh, Oelschlager used savings from his thriving paper route to make his first stock market investment. By 1980, he had been named Money magazine’s top portfolio manager in the nation.
Education was a primary focus for Oelschlager, who earned a degree in economics on The Hill. His alma mater was among his chief beneficiaries. Former Denison President Dale Knobel said Oelschlager was given a small sum of Denison’s endowment in the 1990s to invest through Oak Associates, a firm he co-founded in Akron, Ohio.
“It was so successful that it became a significant portion of our endowment,” Knobel said. “I guess we would attribute probably $100 million worth of gain.”
The family’s $18 million donation — the largest gift from an individual at the time — enabled the construction of the Samson Talbot Hall of Biological Science in 2003. The couple established the Jim and Vanita Oelschlager Fund for the teaching of economics at Denison.
“Characteristically of Jim, he didn’t want his name on the building,” Knobel said.
The Oelschlagers also gave $50,000 each to 20 colleges to create student-managed stock funds, according to the Akron Beacon Journal.
Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1973, Oelschlager was active on the boards of the Akron City Hospital Foundation and the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation. For years, he and his first wife, Jo Ann ’64, hosted family picnics and theater outings for MS patients. His nonprofit Oak Clinic for Multiple Sclerosis currently treats 2,300 patients.
“My father was a good athlete growing up; he ran track at Denison,” his son said. “He was a very active person, and the disease left him in a wheelchair the last 40 years of his life. But I never heard him complain. He never allowed it to impact him negatively or prevent him from helping others who were less fortunate.”James Oelschlager ’64, who made a living in the stock market but took more pleasure investing in people, died Sept. 29, 2024, at age 81.