It’s been said that true leadership is defined not only by professional success, but also by a lifelong dedication to uplifting communities, fostering understanding, and creating opportunities for others. This ethos has guided every step of Lee Schwebel’s journey as a corporate communications executive, nonprofit leader, and passionate advocate for civic engagement and deliberative dialogue
Rooted in Northeast Ohio, Schwebel's connection to higher education traces back to 1969 when his family established the Schwebel Garden Room at Kent State University in honor of his great-grandparents, Dora and Joseph Schwebel, founders of the Schwebel Baking Company. As a trustee and leader of The Schwebel Family Foundation, Schwebel works tirelessly to advance initiatives that nurture compassion, educational access, and cross-institutional collaboration.
Continuing his family's long-standing connection to Kent State’s hospitality program, originally guided by his father and mentor, Joseph Schwebel, Schwebel joined the advisory board in 1999 and has served for over 27 years, working directly with students to plan and execute the annual Schwebel Lecture Series. For Schwebel, professional success and civic responsibility are inseparable. “I think they go hand in hand, one cannot survive without the other,” he said. “To be a servant in the community and to truly give back you need to understand the fabric of those communities.”
Schwebel’s deep commitment to education and historical remembrance is nowhere more evident than in his ongoing partnership with Kent State University and Emerson College. In 1990, as an Emerson student, Lee traveled by van from Boston to Kent State with his professor, Gregory Payne, a leading scholar of the May 4 shootings. The cross-country trip had a profound effect on him and helped inspire his later support for students in Payne’s Kent State seminar.
In 2023, after speaking in Payne's Kent State - Jackson State Seminar, Schwebel returned to KSU for a special visit. Walking alone at dusk near Taylor Hall and the adjacent parking lot, and reflecting on the May 4, 1970, shootings, Schwebel was overcome by the weight of the tragedy. “It was a devastating feeling. I was overcome with grief and sadness,” he recalled. “One of the students, Sandy Scheuer, was from my hometown here in Youngstown. When I saw those death site markers in the Prentice Hall parking lot, I cried and cried.” That experience and emotional turning point strengthened his resolve to keep the critical historical lessons alive, transforming them into a foundational starting point for education and dialogue.
Recognizing that today’s students live in an era where tragedy and safety risks have become normalized, Schwebel felt an urgent call to preserve those lessons. “Sadly, and what's extremely unfortunate, is that we have now elementary school shootings, and children are being killed. So, college students born more than 40 years after 1970 may not fully understand how tragic and devastating May 4, 1970, truly was,” he explained. “What happened that day could sort of be forgotten. And I believe it's my job and the responsibility of the May 4th Task Force to make sure May 4, 1970, is not forgotten.”
On several occasions, Schwebel has provided airfare, hotel accommodations, and travel expenses for Emerson students in Payne’s Kent State seminar to travel from Boston for the university’s annual May 4 commemorations, as well as funding for KSU faculty and students to visit their counterparts at Emerson. Together, they collaborate with the May 4 Task Force and their student counterparts at Emerson studying the lessons of cross-campus solidarity firsthand. Schwebel's support for these trips, and his belief in communication’s power to bridge differences and address complex issues, have helped initiate on-going collaborative deliberative dialogue projects and workshops between Emerson and Kent State. These efforts focus on what unites people rather than what divides them.
Through these philanthropic gifts, Schwebel has transformed classroom theory into profound, real-world learning. For Schwebel, true engagement requires personal connection rather than simply writing a check. “Give from your heart,” he said. “I think I've had a willingness to be vulnerable and to be relatable and to connect with others.”
Drawing on his own lived experience with mental health challenges and holding a certificate in peer-to-peer counseling, Schwebel actively volunteers his time to mentor students navigating personal trials and academic transitions. Encouraging young people to persevere through difficult moments, he advises them to “be patient with yourself... remember, this is not your forever. It may be hard for right now, but it's temporary.”
Reflecting on his life’s work across Northeast Ohio and higher education, Schwebel summarized the guiding purpose behind his dedication. “Much has been given to me and much has been expected of me,” he said. “And I hope that my legacy will show that I truly cared and I gave back and everything came from my heart. I was committed to the students and to Kent State.”
For his philanthropy, compassion and leadership, Kent State’s College of Education and Human Services is proud to honor Lee Schwebel with the Distinguished Service Award.
