Edward F. Meehan Receives the 2023 Inez and Edward Donley Award

Edward F. Meehan, in his 40th year serving as the Executive Director of The Leonard Parker Pool Institute for Health, received the 2023 Inez and Edward Donley Award. The honor was awarded at Community Services for Children’s (CSC) annual Gala held on Saturday, October 7, 2023. 

In 40 years with The Pool Institute for Health, formerly The Pool Health Care Trust, and The Rider-Pool Foundation, Meehan assisted the Governing Boards to investing approximately $175 million to broadly support health, wellness, and community development in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania.

In his role with Pool Trust, Meehan worked closely with Lehigh Valley Health Network, the Trust’s primary beneficiary, to enable it to be a superior regional hospital and have a demonstrable, dramatic, and sustained impact on the health of the citizens in the region. The evolution of that relationship led to the creation of The Leonard Parker Pool Institute for Health, a subsidiary of LVHN in 2021.

“I had the absolute pleasure of knowing, working with, and working for Ed Donley,” said Meehan. He continued, “Donley was a quintessential leader in our community, a dedicated philanthropist, and paved the way for vital programs that served the youth in our area.”

In his management of The Rider-Pool Foundation, Meehan leads a broad goal of building community through human services, the arts, public education, and community development. Notable examples of Meehan’s work are the establishment of Building 21 in the Allentown School District, development of The Promise Neighborhood of the Lehigh Valley, and creation of The Pool Fellowship for Health.

Meehan has offered volunteer leadership to numerous national, state, and local not-for-profit boards and special committees that mirror his focus on place-based solutions to improve and address community health issues. His work has included efforts for at-risk youth, smoking, tobacco and drug councils, K to 12 education initiatives, housing, and neighborhood development.

Edward Donley was hired as the 22nd employee at Air Products before eventually rising to the ranks as the company’s second CEO, succeeding founder Leonard Parker Pool. He served as a trustee of Lehigh Valley Health Network, The Pool Health Care Trust and The Rider-Pool Foundation. The Lehigh Valley innovator passed away at the age of 95 in 2017.