YOUR BUSINESS AUTHORITY
Springfield, MO
Larry Freund, who made a career out of helping local nonprofits raise funds, has died.
Linda Merkling, board president for Council of Churches of the Ozarks, said Freund died Saturday at age 84. Freund was executive director of the CCO Foundation. [Editor's note: Merkling also is an advertising account executive at Springfield Business Journal.]
Freund started working with CCO in the mid-1970s and was friends with the Rev. Dorsey Levell, the nonprofit's founder, Merkling said.
Freund's LinkedIn profile indicates he started Larry R. Freund Inc. in 1975 to organize and conduct capital campaigns and special events for nonprofits, as well as to manage nonprofits. He also was past executive director of The Arc of the Ozarks Foundation. The nonprofit's website now lists him as an ex-officio member of the foundation board.
In recent years, Freund also co-hosted a radio show called "The W Factor" on KWTO-AM with David Eslick.
Merkling said she was unsure about Freund’s cause of death and when services would be scheduled.
Moseley’s Discount Office Products was purchased; Side Chick opened in Branson; and the Springfield franchise store of NoBaked Cookie Dough changed ownership.
I had the privilege of knowing and working with Larry, along with his cohorts Richard C. Dunn and Mac McCartney, who started urging me in 1990 to become the fundraiser for what is now Great Circle. I will always be grateful that they saw something in me I couldn't see in myself.