HORACE HAGEDORN

Director Emeritus,
The Scotts Company,
Founder, Miracle Gro

BY MAUREEN TRAXLER

Over 50 years ago, Horace Hagedorn developed a new garden product, called Miracle-Gro, for Otto Stern, a client of Hagedorn's advertising agency. The two men partnered, and Hagedorn, a gifted and imaginative advertising man, promoted their new plant food - the first branded garden product. Before long, he used his good fortune to begin to nourish a more delicate species than plant life; he began nourishing the lives of young people through his heartfelt support and generous donations.

Citing education as his major philanthropic interest, one of Hagedorn's early adventures included his Miracle-Gro Kids - a group of at-risk fifth graders from Brooklyn. Through Project Reach Youth, he provided the youngsters with tutoring, counseling, weekend recreation, and summer camp, and when they were ready for college, their tuition was supported through the Hagedorn Family Foundation, funded by Horace Hagedorn and his six children.

Today, in Nassau County, the Hagedorn Family Resource Center in Hempstead, the Hagedorn Little Village School in Seaford, Hagedorn Hall of Enterprise, a business school at Adelphi University, and Hagedorn Hall at Hofstra University all bear their benefactor's name. "I like my name on those buildings," says Hagedorn who, together with his wife Amy, has 28 grandchildren. "I want my children to be able to show those buildings to their children, and say, ÔThis is what my father did.' And hopefully, my children will know the joys of philanthropy."

Another project that will bear his name is a community center for the Economic Opportunity Commission in Nassau County. Hagedorn has pledged financial support for soon-to-be completed renovations at a building in Manhasset.

During his career, Hagedorn's business maxim was "to find a need and fill it." Yet in philanthropy, he says, there are plenty of needs, but it's "very hard" to fill them. Hagedorn has applied this maxim in his approach to philanthropy: he's not just a check writer, he takes a personal interest and gives of his time, when possible, to those projects he supports. Hagedorn stood proudly among the dignitaries at last October's dedication of Hagedorn Hall, the new home for Hofstra's School of Education and Allied Human Services, which will provide computer science and engineering teachers with access to modern equipment and technology to improve K-12 technology and advanced sciences education.

Hagedorn's compassion for children in need has also led him to support Family and Children's Association. Through his generosity, a former parochial school in Hempstead was brought to life, and today the building serves as the Family and Children's Family Resource Center, the gateway to the agency's broad array of services, and serves as the home for Family and Children's Palmer-Walker Nursery Co-op.

Enjoying the status of "early supporter," Hagedorn endowed The Family Place at Middle Country Public Library, when the library established this welcoming program for families and young children. The Family Place believes that to strengthen the world, people must start by strengthening their own families. The program has been replicated around the country. In addition, Hagedorn aided the Northeast group of the national Canine Companion for IndependenceÑwhich enhances the lives of people with disabilities by providing highly trained assistance dogsÑin bringing the program to Long Island, and he has funded a wing at the new Medford center that will house people who are coming to accept their companion.

"I like having fun doing projects," remarks Hagedorn. Revealing his creative side, one of his favorite projects involves a scholarship fund for entrepreneurial sophomores at the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated from the Wharton School.

Hagedorn and his wife Amy have contributed to these and many other causes through the Long Island Community Foundation, a division of the New York Community Trust which has administered their philanthropic endeavors for almost a decade. In their local community, Hagedorn supports Port Washington's Landmark on Main Street, and with his interest in the environment, he contributed to Residents for a More Beautiful Port Washington, helping to fund the planting of 36 trees to enhance the neighborhood and give Port Washington a more park-like setting. He has also been a longtime supporter of the Cow Neck Historical Society on the peninsula, and a frequent contributor to fundraising activities at the Helen Keller National Center for Deaf-Blind Youth and Adults in Sands Point.

Hagedorn also supports Sustainable Long Island where Amy is president of the board of directors. Amy also serves on the Nassau County Planning Commission.

For over 20 years, Hagedorn has supported North Shore Hospital. There, an obstetrics and gynecology wing bears his name, as does the Cleft Palate and Craniofacial Center. A legend in the garden industry, he has been a longtime supporter of the Garden Writers Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Garden Writers Association of America.

A believer in role models, Hagedorn supports One-on-One, a nationally known mentoring program, and Women on the Job, a nonprofit advocacy and educational group based in Port Washington. Through the able assistance of the Long Island Community Foundation, Hagedorn continues to benefit Long Island's worthy causes and nonprofit organizations.

Other initiates that Hagedorn has supported include the Port Washington office of the Parent-Child Home Program, Partnership for After School Education, the Nassau County Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the Interfaith Nutrition Network, Long Island Cares, Fight for Families, which helps to restore funds that have been cutback during lean economic times, and Farms for City Kids in Vermont, a favorite project of his son Jim, CEO of The Scotts Company, the world's leader in do-it-yourself lawn and garden products.

When he's looking for a philanthropic project, Hagedorn, a longtime Sands Point resident, says he "likes to think of things that will exist after I have departed." He adds, "I've been very lucky in my life. I had a little product that caught on and that was lucky, too."