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Mayor Jim Gray speaks Tuesday during a ceremony to rededicate the YMCA's Beaumont facility in honor of businessman and philanthropist Carol Martin "Bill" Gatton, seated right.
Mayor Jim Gray speaks Tuesday during a ceremony to rededicate the YMCA's Beaumont facility in honor of businessman and philanthropist Carol Martin "Bill" Gatton, seated right.
The YMCA of Central Kentucky’s Beaumont facility in Lexington now bears a name familiar to business, community and philanthropic circles: The Carol Martin Gatton Beaumont YMCA.
City, university and community leaders gathered Tuesday morning to help the Christian-based organization rededicate its southeast side facility in honor of the longtime businessman and bank executive.
“Today marks the 15th anniversary of the Beaumont YMCA,” said David Martorano, president and CEO of YMCA of Central Kentucky. “Today, Mr. Gatton we honor you, for giving this YMCA to our community. Today we are honored to rededicate our YMCA in honor of you."
C.M. “Bill” Gatton, 82, was being recognized for giving the organization nearly $6 million worth of land, both for the Beaumont location and for where the Hamburg Y is set to go up later this year.
Among those in attendance was Eli Capilouto, president of the University of Kentucky, where Gatton received an undergraduate degree in 1954 and where the Carol Martin Gatton College of Business and Economics now stands, so named after a multimillion-dollar gift in 1995.
Mayor Jim Gray also spoke to the gathering, adding to the accolades by bestowing a 2015 Henry Clay Ambassador Award on Gatton.
“His philanthropy has touched many, many lives,” Gray said.
When Gatton addressed the crowd, he spoke about his business career, beginning with an auto dealership in Owensboro, Kentucky, which provided the “seed corn” for his even more successful forays into banking and real estate.
Gatton said he didn’t grow up near a YMCA, having been raised “far out in the country.”
“Our YMCA was hauling in hay,” he quipped.
But he said he supports the organization’s goals of fostering good health and character through its varied programs, training a barbed aside at New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, who is being suspended by the NFL for several games over a cheating scandal.
Gatton also spoke about his love of community and business and said he hopes “to keep making money so I can keep giving it away.”