Joseph F. Cornelius biography: 15 things about Clearwater, Florida banker, civic leader

Who was Joseph Franklin Cornelius?

Joseph Franklin Cornelius was born in Spokane, Washington, United States to Joseph Morand Cornelius and Freida Eike. Joseph Franklin is one of the founders of St. Paul’s School in Clearwater, Florida, USA.

Joseph Morand was born in California, USA while Eike was born Petra Jacobsdotter in Eike Farms, Fister, Rogaland, Norway. Joseph Franklin has two younger brothers namely Elmer Morand Cornelius and Stanley Robert Cornelius and one younger sister named Eleanor Cornelius.

An Old National Bank of Spokane executive, Joseph Franklin owned an advertising agency that sold syndicated advertising material to banks before World War II, which lasted from 1939 to 1945. His son Joseph Franklin Cornelius Jr. lived in Akron, Ohio, USA while his daughter Karen Cornelius Crown, who married Ronald Charles Crown, lived in Belleair, Florida.

Joseph Franklin and his wife Mirth R. Cornelius have two children together. They co-chaired the 1968 Morton Plant Hospital Charity Ball.

Mirth and Joseph Franklin founded the Joseph F. Cornelius Family Foundation Inc., which disburses about 70 grants to non-profit organizations annually. Its only public grant is the Outstanding Policeman of the Year award that goes to a police officer in Clearwater.

Also, Joseph Franklin was a board member of Morton Plant Hospital Foundation. Here are 15 more things about him:

1. He was born in 1907.
2. In 1926, his father died at age 69.
3. In 1932, he and Mirth got married.
4. On June 15, 1941, he attended the wedding of his brother Elmer and Alice Pauline Gibson in Spokane.
5. In 1952, he moved to Tampa, Florida to be the executive vice president of Marine Bank and Trust Co. Tampa.
6. In 1957, he became the president of Marine Bank and Trust Co. Tampa.
7. In 1960, he was named president of Bank of Clearwater so he moved to Clearwater.
8. In 1964, he and Mirth founded the Joseph F. Cornelius Family Foundation Inc.
9. On November 30, 1965, his mother died at her home in Bigfork, Flathead County, Montana, USA at age 80.
10. In 1968, he co-founded St. Paul’s School in Clearwater.
11. In 1974, he retired from banking but stayed on as a board member of Bank of Clearwater. He was an advisory board director after the bank was bought by First Florida until 1992.
12. In 1994, he received the inaugural Clearwater Fraternal Order of Police Citizen of the Year Award.
13. In 1995, he was named a lifetime honorary member of the Florida Sheriff’s Association.
14. On August 18, 1996, his sister Eleanor died at age 78.
15. On March 30, 1999, he died at the Oak Bluffs Retirement Center and Nursing Facility in Clearwater.