“This article isn’t to highlight ourselves, but it’s hopefully to inspire others.”
A Lasting and Loving Tribute
The handsomely designed plaque near the entrance to the Bitonte College of Dentistry reads “The Darrell L. and Ronna J. McNair Dean’s Suite.”
It doesn’t take up much room on the wall. Yet it represents a huge milestone.
“We decided to do something big. And this was big in our eyes,” said Darrell McNair, who chairs the Northeast Ohio Medical University Board of Trustees.
The plaque honors a multi-year philanthropic commitment made by McNair and wife, Ronna, that will fund innovations in dentistry. Although the couple has made plenty of philanthropic donations before, this $500,000 gift is their biggest ever.For Chair McNair, it meant the world when he brought his 88-year-old father out to Rootstown last year to walk through the dentistry school, meet the dean and see where the plaque would be placed.
Darrell McNair and Ronna McNair in the Simulation Lab of the Bitonte College of Dentistry.
He wants the donation to be a lasting and loving tribute to his dad, Clarence McNair, who graduated from dental school in the 1960s, at a time when few Blacks could gain entry to the field.
Darrell and Ronna said their goal is to honor the determined spirit of Darrell’s barrier-breaking father in a way that provides meaningful support to NEOMED dental students. “It is a living legacy,” added Ronna. “After we’re gone,” the gift will continue in perpetuity, she explained.
Opening Doors of Opportunity
The McNairs sat down recently for an interview about the intention behind their gift. The two share a firm belief that education opens doors of opportunity and is the best investment they can make.
They reflected on the fact that they both had parents who worked hard to join the middle class and who sacrificed to make sure their children would receive top-notch educations and go on to become successful professionals.
Today, Darrell McNair is president and CEO of MVP Plastics Inc. in Middlefield, Ohio, and Ronna is executive director of The Center for Entrepreneurs at Cuyahoga Community College’s Corporate College. The couple feels they owe much of their success to their upbringing and to the example set by their parents.
Students in the Bitonte College of Dentistry work on a project creating wax teeth in the dental simulation lab.
A Mountaintop Moment
It feels like a mountaintop moment to be the first generation in his family able to make a philanthropic gift of this size, Darrell said. And even better, to see the immense pride in his dad’s expression during the Rootstown visit. “What’s beautiful about this is he’s alive to see it,” Darrell said.
Darrell, a business leader who has received countless awards for his civic involvement, has often credited his father’s influence as the root of his own achievements. Last year while receiving a community service award from the American Jewish Committee Cleveland, he spoke movingly about his father, saying that his dad always told him, “Son, commit yourself to whatever you set out to do. Do it well.”
His father, the oldest of 11, “has always been a provider. He’s always been the one helping his family out and bringing others along,” Darrell said during the interview for IGNITE. “I remember as a child we had extended family living with us pretty much all our lives. We were always that transitional home for other family members who were waiting to figure out what that next step was.”
“He pounded education in us, and even instilled it in his grandchildren,” Darrell added. “My dad, being a dentist, it did provide him with opportunities to move up the socioeconomic ladder and also provide a better opportunity for his children.”
And that’s why the McNairs made a point of waiting until NEOMED’s Bitonte College of Dentistry opened in August 2025 before announcing the donation. Darrell admitted that he’s stretched thin serving on numerous nonprofit boards (“Too many,” he laughed) but emphasized that his appointment as NEOMED board chair holds special meaning. “You don’t have that many African Americans who become chair of medical schools. It’s a big deal. Especially a medical school doing great things, not just within our community but around the state.”
Close to the heart
On his broad-shouldered sport coats, Darrell McNair often wears a brooch from his mom’s jewelry box. His mother, an educator who taught students with learning disabilities, passed away in 2021. “When I wear my mom’s brooches, I feel close to her,” he said.
The Role Model Effect
NEOMED plays an important role in the local healthcare landscape, he said, proudly citing that it is the most affordable medical school in Northeast Ohio and that 70% of its graduates remain in Ohio.
And because NEOMED is providing unprecedented access to healthcare careers locally, the couple believes their contribution will ultimately help produce more professionals who understand the tremendous health disparities affecting low-income communities and will work to eliminate them.
Added Darrell, “It’s important that minorities, specifically African Americans, know there’s a pathway for them outside of sports, outside of traditional business. The medical profession is still very much alive and needed. As a Black professional, you’re an important role model to your community…. That role model, that sense of identity, I think is very important to help our younger generation.”
The role model effect. It matters greatly to these two. The wording of their plaque talks not just about the impact of the example set by Darrell’s dad, but by all four of their parents. Each believed education is the key to success, and all four attained postgraduate degrees.
Ronna’s parents met at West Virginia State University, a historically Black institution. Both went onto become educators employed by Cleveland public schools. They strived to provide a good life for their kids, moving to Shaker Heights so their children could attend the high-performing Shaker school system.
Ronna recalled a time when her mom left a federal government job in order to go into teaching and have summers off with her children. Always, her children were her priority. “My mom was very serious about making sure we were on the college path. She made sure we had all the enrichment we needed,” Ronna said.
Their love for their parents is visible in many ways. You might see quiet evidence of it if you happen to glimpse Darrell in business attire. On his broad-shouldered sport coats, he often wears a brooch from his mom’s jewelry box. His mother, an educator who taught students with learning disabilities, passed away in 2021. “When I wear my mom’s brooches, I feel close to her,” he said.
Bitonte College Dean Sorin Teich, D.M.D., M.B.A., definitely “gets” the McNairs’ desire to pay homage to their parents. He comes from a line of dentists, including his mother who graduated from dental school in Romania in 1960. “Both of us admire our parents,” Dr. Teich said of Darrell.
The dean is honored that the McNairs’ gift will fund innovations at NEOMED’s newest college. Innovation doesn’t just mean the latest technology, he said, but also looking for new ways to help students build critical thinking skills that will sustain them into the future.
A Community of Giving
The McNairs shared that their philanthropy journey began years ago. They made a 10-year donation to Akron East High School, dad Clarence’s alma mater, for students of color who want to pursue medical degrees. And currently they’re establishing a scholarship endowment to honor Ronna’s parents at West Virginia State University.
“As a business owner in the community, we are inundated with requests for giving,” Darrell said.
“We set aside monies every year, but nothing of this magnitude,” he said. The NEOMED donation “was larger, it’s significant and impactful, and it did take more time for us to think through.”
Normally they would shy away from publicity. But not this time. Pointedly, they have decided to do their part to raise the profile of Black philanthropy. “There’s some African Americans in our community who have done quite well for themselves. Many of them quietly give,” said Darrell.
It’s that humility, that Bible-instilled value that charity should be done in private and not for praise, that has always obscured the impact of Black giving, the McNairs believe.
Connie Hill-Johnson, the Cleveland Foundation’s immediate past board chair, heartily agrees with them. “The perception has always been that Black folks don’t give,” said Hill-Johnson, a co-founder of The Soul of Philanthropy Cleveland, an organization dedicated to highlighting the important and diverse ways that African Americans give back.
Challenging that false perception is why the McNairs and a growing circle of friends are now choosing to be transparent about their charitable giving. “Let’s begin to normalize it,” Darrell said.
“This article isn’t to highlight ourselves,” said Ronna, “but it’s hopefully to inspire others.”
Ronna McNair and Darrell McNair in the dental simulation lab of the Bitonte College of Dentistry.