Local businessman dies at 93

An area businessman and philanthropist has died at the age of 93.
Harry M. Cornell Jr. died at his home in Joplin on Sunday.
Cornell earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Missouri in 1950 and was also awarded an honorary doctorate of law in 2003.
In 1960, he became the CEO of Leggett & Platt and helped take it from a small regional company into a Fortune 500 manufacturing giant.
In 2014, he was inducted into the American Furniture Hall of Fame as an Industry Fellow, and in 1998 he was named Citizen of the Year of Carthage, where Leggett & Platt was founded.
He and his wife’s major donations across the region helped numerous projects with his name being featured on several buildings, including the Harry M. Cornell Arts & Entertainment Complex, the Harry M. Cornell Medical Education Center and Harry M. Cornell Dental Education Center KCU Joplin’s campus, and the Cornell-Beshore Cancer Institute at Freeman Health System.
The couple has also gifted over $11 million to the University of Missouri.
Just two weeks ago, Harry was named Outstanding Citizen of the Year by the Joplin Chamber of Commerce.