Corporate Philanthropy
Prayer and home runs
Rita and Peter Carfagna support the organizations that enhance their lives.
By Abby Cymerman
Smart Business Akron/Canton | December 2004
Two things that play major roles in the lives of Rita and Peter Carfagna are Catholicism and baseball.
The couple recently worked as co-chairs of The Campaign for Beaumont School, raising $5 million to create a Spiritual Life Center for the Cleveland Heights Catholic college-prep school for women, and Rita -- a 1971 Beaumont graduate -- is serving her second term as a member of the school's board of directors.
"No two people have taken (the Spiritual Life Center) project into their hearts more than Peter and Rita Carfagna," says Maria Coyne, chair of the Beaumont School board of trustees. "For them, and for all of us, this will become the new spiritual heart of Beaumont's lovely campus."
Rita is majority owner of the Lake County Captains, and Peter is the team's president, as well as chief legal officer/general counsel for global sports marketing company IMG Worldwide Inc.
Rita also serves as president of the Murphy Family Foundation and as a trustee of St. Ignatius High School. Peter is former chairman of the board of St. Ignatius High School, a member of the Diocesan Finance Council, director of the Harvard Alumni Association and board member of the American Association of Rhodes Scholars.
Together, they serve on the advisory committee of Womankind Maternal and Prenatal Health Care Center and the advisory board of the West Side Catholic Center. They are also involved in their Shaker Heights parish, St. Dominic Church.
"(Peter and Rita's) commitment to the poor of our city especially inspires me, as these gifts are most often never recognized. I am honored to know them and serve with them," says Fr. Thomas Fanta, pastor of St. Dominic Church. HOW TO REACH: Beaumont School, (216) 321-2954, www.beaumontschool.org.
