b. April 19, 1868, d. January 27, 1947

Paul Harris, a Chicago lawyer, founded Rotary on February 23, 1905 with the help of three of his clients. Silvester
Schiele, a coal merchant, Gustavus Loehr, a mining engineer and Hiram Shorey, a merchant tailor. their intent was to
provide fellowship among business men and provide service to the community. They called their group “rotary”
because the meeting rotated among the homes of the members.
Paul Harris was born in Racine, Wisconsin. He tried his hand at being a newspaper reporter, business college teacher,
stock company actor, cowboy, and a salesman for a marble and granite concern in the US and Europe. He received a
bachelor of physical culture and LLD degree from the Uiniversity of Iowa, and an honorary Ph.D from the University of
Vermont.
Paul was president emeritus of Rotary International, comprised of 6,000 clubs when he died in 1947. Today there are
over 34,000 clubs in more than 200 countries and geographical areas.

b. October 21, 1887, d. May 15, 1974

Estes Snedecor, referee in bankruptcy for 33 years in Portland. Alongside his life as an attorney and bankruptcy referee, he rose to the top of Rotary International, presiding over the organization’s annual convention in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1921. In 1933 he served in the Oregon legislature, an in 1935 was counsel for Gov. Charles H Martin.

b. May 18, 1954, d. Sept. 9, 2019

Past District Governor Dick Elixman served District 5100 as the Centennial District Governor in 2004-2005. He remained active in Rotary International on many levels. Dick was passionate and dedicated Rotarian from 1992 until his passing in 2019. Dick was well respected throughout the Rotary World and held numerous positions at the Club, District and Rotary International levels embodying strategic planning, membership, education and training, global humanitarian projects and support of The Rotary Foundation. He received numerous awards and ac-colades, including the ‘Service Above Self’ award from Rotary International and the ‘Citation for Meri-torious Service’ from The Rotary Foundation. 

Regretfully PDG Elixman passed away unexpectedly in 2019 and his passing left a big void in our District, Zone and the International community.