LYNN — David Solimine Sr., founder and director of Solimine Funeral Homes and a lifelong resident of Lynn, will be honored on Thursday by the Boston North Cancer Association for his service to the organization and commitment to the community.
Solimine, 82, will be awarded Boston North Cancer Association’s (BNCA) 8th annual Hope Begins Here award at Danversport. The award is presented to an outstanding leader and advocate for cancer prevention, treatment and care on the North Shore.
The Hope Begins Here reception, from 6 to 9 p.m., is the signature fundraising event to benefit BNCA and will feature food, complimentary cocktails, raffles and live music.
The Boston North Cancer Association describes its mission as funding and supporting special projects for the prevention, research, education and care of cancer.
Solimine has been on the BNCA board for more than 30 years, including three past terms as president. Organizers said the award recognizes Solimine’s service to BNCA, his charitable endeavors and his commitment to the care of residents throughout Boston North Communities.
“I was very honored and pleased,” said Solimine. “We’ve usually given this to a number of doctors through the years. (I’m) very honored and pleased that the board thought of me.”
Solimine was invited to join the BNCA board by Ruth Rhodes. She was active on the board when his family bought the Rhodes funeral business. Solimine said he established Solimine Funeral Homes in 1965 — his son eventually took over the reins and then his grandson did. He is still working every day, but his grandson is now his boss.
“It was local,” Solimine said of his interest in the organization. “It started with Lynn and Union Hospital. It was Lynn Cancer Association originally. There was a need for support for cancer research and treatment and that’s what made me stay with it.”
Solimine said he and his wife, Mary Jane, are both cancer survivors, which puts them in the category of people in need of help. She had a mastectomy in 2003 and went through serious treatment, including chemotherapy. He had a prostatectomy in 2006 — surgery took care of the cancer and he didn’t have to do further treatment.
Solimine said giving back was ingrained in him while he was growing up. He always had a caring family and then married a woman who has the same philosophy. He said he always gives back to worthwhile projects in the area. He also helps with Catholic Charities, My Brother’s Table, Knights of Malta and Item Santa.
“I would just hope that everyone in the world would give back,” Solimine said. “God’s been good to us and God’s been good to everyone I know. I wish everyone would feel the same way in giving back to the community and those who are less fortunate.”
BNCA president Susan McCarthy said all proceeds from the event go back into the organization for its grants programs and its Scholarships Program.
McCarthy said the organization was established in 1926 and became known as the Lynn Cancer Association in 1944. Her husband, Kevin McCarthy, BNCA vice-president, said the organization was rebranded in 2011 as Boston North Cancer Association because they felt the organization’s boundaries had exceeded the Lynn area and scholarships were being given out.
Eight to 10 years ago, Kevin McCarthy said the organization had changed to a point. There was a time in the 1930s or ’40s where its endowment was big enough to fund equipment for Lynn hospitals, but over time the equipment got too expensive. So the organization decided to become more grassroots and local, and found that its endowment was big enough to do scholarships.
The $7,500 F. John Bargoot, MD, Memorial Scholarship, which is for a medical student who resided and completed high school on the North Shore and has an interest in cancer treatment and prevention, will go to Molly Griffin, of Gloucester, UMass Medical School.
The $3,500 David J. Solimine Honorary Scholarship, awarded to a college-bound North Shore high school senior who is a cancer survivor or who is undergoing treatment for cancer, will go to Dorothy Ezemba, Lynn English High School.
The $3,500 Hope Begins Here Scholarship, for a college-bound North Shore high school senior whose parent was diagnosed with cancer or who has died as a result of cancer, will go to Meghan Craaybeek, Gloucester High School.
The $3,500 Mary Barbuzzi Memorial Scholarship will go to Cameron Greenleaf, Lynn Classical High School.
The $1,000 Lightshed Photography Honorary Scholarship goes to Meaghan Hathaway, Marblehead High School.
The $1,000 Rising Star Honorary Scholarship goes to Steven Toomajian, of Nahant, Swampscott High School.
