Robert R. Heaton Butler County Assistance Fund

In 2019, Pittsburgh Foundation donor Robert Heaton extended his charitable legacy by establishing the Robert R. Heaton Butler County Assistance Fund to aid residents in the Butler Area.

The fund will provide support to human service organizations that help Butler County residents dealing with crisis situations. These may include financial needs for people receiving medical care or for those who have been affected by a flood. He established a similar program already at the Jean Purvis Community Health Care Center, which is also in Butler, Pa. This new fund will supplement that program.

Mr. Heaton was on hospice in Florida just two weeks before establishing the fund in April. While he was told by his doctors that he was nearing the end of his life, Heaton made a full recovery, left hospice and returned home. Once back in Butler, he returned to his full and robust life focused on helping others.

He created the Butler County Assistance Fund to give back to his community in thanks for his “wonderful life.”

His philanthropy also includes the Robert R. Heaton Scholarship Fund at The Pittsburgh Foundation. Before establishing his Pittsburgh Foundation funds, Heaton made a 2014 donation of $1 million to the Butler County Community College, which used the funds to renovate its former library. The library on the college’s main campus is now known as The Heaton Family Learning Commons. Triblive quoted him saying, “If we don’t educate some of these kids, then who will?”