About Us

Jerome T. Osborne was born April 6, 1922 and died June 21, 2014. He grew up on his family’s farm in Mentor, Ohio. As a kid he raced ponies at the Lake County Fair, cleaned the stalls of his father’s draft horses and searched for lost balls to clean and resell at Lost Nation Golf Course, which his father built in 1927.

With his competitive spirit, intuitive business acumen and the work ethic acquired in his youth, Mr. Osborne started his professional career in 1941 in the custom farming business, growing soybeans on about 200 acres of land. The children of Jerome and Georgeanne agree that without their mother, Jerome could have still been in the soybean business.

In 1947 Jerome founded Osborne Coal and Feed Co., serving the coal and feed needs of local farmers with a single truck he purchased with $50 borrowed from his high school sweetheart Georgeanne. Both Jerome and Georgeanne had great work ethics and encouraged their children to “live and learn”.

The Osborne empire included 19 corporations in the concrete and building supply industry and employed more than 250 people.

Mr. and Mrs. Osborne were humble and private and anonymously donated much of the fortune to charity. Work, like boating and raising horses, was a hobby and a passion.

 Mr. and Mrs. Osborne also built an empire in their home where they were role models to 9 children. At the time of Mr. Osborne’s death the family had grown to include 26 grandchildren, 33 great grandchildren and 3 great great grandchildren. Mr. Osborne was a devoted husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather, friend and employer who will always be remembered as a shrewd businessman with an unmistakable down-to-earth style who loved his work, horses, dogs, boats and his red pickup.

Mrs. Osborne loved boating and spending time with friends. She loved to entertain and always included the children.

The Osborne legacy lives on through THE JEROME T. OSBORNE AND GEORGEANNE S. OSBORNE CHARITABLE TRUST under the oversight of the inaugural Trustees whom he personally selected.