CLEARFIELD, Pa. — Robert M. Kurtz Jr. was born into a family with a long history of supporting the community. He continued that tradition, leaving a permanent impact on his town.
Without him and his wife, Marilyn, Clearfield would be a very different place. Residents walking around town may have enjoyed the Meditation Garden at the Presbyterian Church or the beautiful landscaping at the Joseph and Elizabeth Shaw Public Library donated by the couple.
A special memorial service to honor both Robert, who died in November, and Marilyn, who died in January 2025, will be held Saturday at noon at the Clearfield Presbyterian Church.
Kurtz wore many hats during his lifetime: businessman, community board member, politician, photographer, writer, historian and even magician.
He was widely known for the family business, Kurtz Bros., which was started in 1894 by his grandfather, Charles T. Kurtz, in partnership with his brother, Harry. Planning ahead, Robert M. Kurtz Jr. arranged for the company to become employee-owned before he retired to ensure that it never leaves Clearfield.
His most “gratifying achievement for Clearfield” was starting the Clearfield County Charitable Foundation (CCCF), establishing trust funds that will support several local nonprofit organizations for the foreseeable future. The idea was to collect and distribute private gifts to tax-exempt charitable organizations.
“This will be accomplished by the creation of a permanent and unrestricted endowment which will help the community to respond to emerging and changing community needs, provide a conduit for donations from donors with varied interests, enabling any individual, corporation or association, no matter how small, to become a philanthropist,” according to information provided by Kurtz.
The other function of the CCCF is to provide grants to various local charities that promote health, education, social welfare, the arts, history and culture, conservation and the environment. The CCCF now has a total of 69 endowment and scholarship funds worth over $21 million.
This includes the funds set up by Kurtz that benefit the Shaw Library, the Children’s Aid Society, the Clearfield YMCA, the Clearfield County Historical Society, the Clearfield Salvation Army, the Clearfield (Hillcrest) Cemetery Company and the Clearfield Presbyterian Church.
All of this was Kurtz following in his grandfather’s footsteps. Charles (Chas) T. Kurtz Sr. set up trust funds for some of the same local organizations in his will.
In 2006, Kurtz started the William & Pat Bishop Founders Fund and the Carl & Carol Belin Fund to honor his friends. He, William and Carl met as Boy Scouts.
“Each of these friends has been part of larger efforts that have directly benefited the community in untold ways,” he was quoted as saying at a special dinner.
In addition, he started the Kurtz Bros. Employee Founders Fund and the CCCF Donor Designated Fund, which supports annual grants for charities in Clearfield, Curwensville and Lawrence Township. Last year, the CCCF gave out $603,180 through awards, grants and scholarships.
Kurtz was a founding father of the Lock Haven University campus — now the Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania — and donated more than half of the value of the land for the institution. In May 2014, he was presented with an honorary degree of Doctor of Public Service by the school.
“This was one of the honors I would have never expected,” Kurtz said at the time. “I’m just overwhelmed and floored by it.”
The Kurtz name is visible throughout the community. In the 1950s, Chas T. Kurtz donated land for a park in East End that became Kurtz Park, and a field that became Kurtz Field was given to the Clearfield Little League Baseball Association.
The area of town known as Goldenrod Farms was once a farm owned by the Kurtz family. In the 1950s, it became a residential development which still carries names of the Kurtz family members — Charles, Pauline and Meyers — on the street signs.
In 1951, Charles T. Kurtz was named “Mr. Clearfield” in honor of his contributions to the community. His citation could also apply to his grandson. It read: “A citizen proud of his town, true to his responsibilities, active in advancing its institutions of service, wise in his advices, alert to improvement, available for work or consultation, generous without stint when his fellow man is benefited.”
This great loss to our community is also a personal loss for me. Mr. Kurtz became a friend after he hired me to put together a local history photo book using his personal collection of photos and postcards. The royalties for that book all go to the Clearfield County Historical Society.
This led to me writing two other history books and a play for the county bicentennial. He was always a supporter and fan of my writing. He once told me that he read my Christmas story, “The Christmas Stocking,” every holiday season. He was an amazing man, and I will really miss him.
Marilyn Kurtz was a special, giving person, too. We shared a love of cats and often talked about our pets. She was his partner in everything, sharing his love of traveling and history. They were married in the Old North Church in Boston in 1991.
Robert and Marilyn Kurtz may be gone, but their influence will be felt for decades.
You can honor Robert and Marilyn Kurtz with a donation to any of their funds with the CCCF at www.clearfieldcharitablefoundation.org or by mailing a check payable to Clearfield County Charitable Foundation at P.O. Box 1442, Clearfield, PA 16830, with the name of the fund written in the memo line.
