Dennis Heron, Class of 1970

Every year more than 330 wishes are granted to children with life-threatening medical conditions in southeastern Pennsylvania by the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Philadelphia. That organization’s Executive Director, Dennis Heron, a 1970 Oxford graduate, plays a key role in organizing this wonderful service. We are very happy to place Mr. Heron’s name on the list of our school’s Distinguished Alumni.

After high school Mr. Heron spent two years at Lincoln University and then completed his bachelor’s degree in sociology at Catawba College, in Salisbury, North Carolina. Following a brief career as a hearing-aid salesman, Mr. Heron worked for the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare in Coatesville before taking a job with the American Cancer Society. Finding the non-profit world appealing, Mr. Heron next moved on to an executive job with the Freedom Valley Girl Scouts before landing his present post with the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Among his responsibilities are raising nearly $3.5 million a year, supervising a staff of 14, overseeing 130 volunteers, working with a board of directors, and maintaining contact with the national organization. The Philadelphia unit is one of 71 Make-A-Wish chapters in the U.S., and the entire Foundation is now the largest wish-granting charity in the world.

Mr. Heron lives in West Chester with his wife Sue and their three college-age children who are all top students, excellent athletes, and, like him, intense Phillies, Flyers, Sixers, and Eagles fans. Gardening, politics, and physical workouts are some of Mr. Heron’s varied interests, and he reports that his six best friends are all Oxford classmates from 1970.

—John Bradley