REMEMBERING SCOT DEWHIRST:  LEADER, ADVOCATE AND COUNSELOR

Attorney Scot Dewhirst was a tireless advocate and leader for the LGBTQ community in Central Ohio his entire adult life.  On August 22, 2019, The Legacy Fund named Scot its biennial honoree at its 2019 Honors Event in recognition of his legacy of service to Central Ohio’s LGBTQ community.  His passing is a loss to so many, but his legacy—as he envisioned—will continue to strengthen all of us, our families, our organizations and institutions and our community.

As an attorney, Scot Dewhirst, focused his law practice on representing LGBTQ clients since 1988, while fighting with persistence, courage and character to elevate and protect the interests of the LGBTQ community in Central Ohio with much of the rest of his time.

A “founding father” of The Legacy Fund, Scot served on the Board for over 15 years, including multiple terms as Chair and Co-Chair. His clients established The Legacy Fund’s signature scholarship fund, the Howard T. Short and Burdette Augsburger Scholarship Fund, which has, to date, helped dozens of college and graduate students finance their educations.

Scot’s gifts to the LGBTQ community over the years are legion:  Hosting the first Kaleidoscope Garden Party at his home in 1997; providing pro bono representation to Stonewall and to clients of the Columbus Aids Task Force; creating materials and programming to assist LGBTQ senior citizens and those with Alzheimer’s; public speeches to countless organizations on topics relating to the LGBTQ community; and much more.

In addition to his busy law practice as a founding partner of Artz, Dewhirst & Wheeler, LLP, Scot was a well-known mediation expert and respected law professor, as co-founder and co-director of the Center for Dispute Resolution at Capital University School of Law and as an Adjunct Professor of Law for over 30 years.

The family has asked that anyone wanting to honor Scot make a donation to the Legacy Fund or other charity in lieu of flowers.