George M. Jones III

1944 - 2023

News story
By Mark Zaborney
Blade Staff Writer

George M. Jones III, head of a longstanding family business and a charitable foundation named for his grandfather, who won respect for his board service to cultural and community organizations, died Feb. 15 at his residence in Telluride, Colo. He was 79.

The cause of death is not yet known, his family said. He had not been ill, and the death was unexpected.

Mr. Jones of Perrysburg Township was chairman of the Manhattan Group, founded as the Manhattan Building Co. in 1924, with holdings that include Kwik Parking and properties that include the Bell Building in downtown Toledo and buildings in Maumee's Arrowhead Park.

He also created a joyous work environment while guiding employees, his family said. And wife, Kathy, said, "He was a serious businessman."

"He was very analytical," said his stepdaughter Sara Donley Bowen. "You'd think at first he was quiet, but when you asked him a question, he'd observed everything around him."

Stepdaughter Jordan Donley Beach said: "He was so well respected. Everyone loved him because he was such an honest man."

Mr. Jones, formerly of Waterville Township, had been president of the Clement O. Miniger Memorial Foundation, founded by his parents, Eleanor Miniger Jones and George Jones, Jr., with the mission to "improve the lives of people in northwest Ohio," Mrs. Bowen said.

Mr. Miniger, who died in April, 1944, was his maternal grandfather and a founder of the auto parts maker, the Electric Auto-Lite Co. His paternal grandfather, George Jones, was a Toledo industrialist and banker whose company built the Commodore Perry Hotel.

The foundation has supported such entities as Toledo Symphony and WGTE Public Media.

"It's a very sad thing for the community to lose George Jones," said Kathy Carroll, retired symphony president and chief executive. "He was unfailingly polite and engaging, immediately. He quietly made things happen and gave full credit to others."

When the University of Toledo collaborated in 1998 with area high schools to enlighten students in the humanities, the Miniger Foundation supplied grants to buy computers with internet connections.

"To me it makes sense," Mr. Jones told The Blade at the time. "If we have an increasingly computer and math-oriented society, it's very important to make kids aware at the high school level that there is a thing called humanities. They're going to like that. They're going to think it's cool."

His tenure on the Toledo Museum of Art board, from 1989-2020, is believed to be the longest in museum history, said Adam Levine, museum director since April, 2020. Mr. Jones' term as board chairman included the 2006 opening of the museum's Glass Pavilion.

"He had a sharp and entertaining wit, but he was a serious person," said Mr. Levine, who got to know Mr. and Mrs. Jones after arriving at the museum in 2013 as a Mellon Fellow. "His commitments were manifest in the breadth of responsibilities he took on."

"George was incredibly kind, incredibly earnest, incredibly patient, and very present," Mr. Levine said.

Roger Berkowitz, a former museum director, recalled that Mr. Jones enjoyed serving on the acquisitions committee, which would weigh presentations by the director and curators on prospective additions to the collection.

"He asked probing questions," Mr. Berkowitz said. "He was a great learner. Whether it was about art or American history that interested him, he never did once over lightly."

Mr. Jones most often appeared at the museum in a three-piece suit, "but for George it was a natural way of dressing. And he saw it as showing respect for others in the same way his beautiful manners did," Mr. Berkowitz said.

Mr. Jones was a former chairman of the WGTE board, on which he served for more than a decade and had been a trustee for more than 25 years of the Toledo Symphony.

Robert Bell, symphony president emeritus, recalled their mutual interests in environmental issues and nature and their friendship.

"Early in my administrative role with the orchestra I received, almost daily, clippings from him about topics of our shared interests as well as anything relevant to the symphony world," Mr. Bell said. "His support of the orchestra, personally at that time and eventually through the Miniger Foundation were vital to the orchestra's community impact and financial health."

His family history was known, but he kept "the spotlight pointed outward," Ms. Carroll said Thursday. "He was much more interested in you and the organizations and what was going on in the community and the world at large. He did not see himself as center stage, a solo performer. He was always available to give you encouragement."

On the board of Boys & Girls Clubs of Toledo, Mr. Jones served in leadership and committee roles.

His keen interest in history led to board service with the National Museum of the Great Lakes in East Toledo, with Fort Meigs in Perrysburg, and with Fort Ticonderoga in northern New York state. Mr. Jones had been a trustee of Historic Woodlawn Cemetery and the Lucas County-Maumee Valley Historical Society. He also was a former trustee of what was then the Ohio Historical Society.

George Miles Jones III was born Feb. 1, 1944, grew up in Perrysburg Township, and attended Maumee Valley Country Day School. He received a bachelor's degree from Denison University and a bachelor's degree in foreign trade from the American Institute for Foreign Trade in Glendale, Ariz.

He formerly was an operational auditor for what is now Owens Corning and a freelance photographer based in Telluride, where he built his first home in 1974.

In December, 2009, Mayor Carty Finkbeiner presented him a glass key to the city of Toledo.

Surviving are his wife, the former Katherine Barnum Donley; whom he married Oct. 3, 1987; stepdaughters Sara Donley Bowen and Jordan Donley Beach, and four stepgrandchildren.

Services will be held later. Arrangements are by Walker Funeral Home.

The family suggests tributes to a charity of the donor's choice "for the betterment of the Toledo area," Ms. Bowen said.