The Influentials: Mal Mixon

Chairman and CEO, Invacare

Though the Cleveland Institute of Music’s new 250-seat recital hall bearing his name is the most recent example of Mal Mixon’s influence on the city (his $3 million gift was part of a $40 million capital campaign that allowed for a massive revamp of the conservatory’s University Circle home), he has been a force on the city’s business scene since growing Invacare (a formerly $19 million a year company) into a global leader in the home medical-device industry with annual sales exceeding $1.5 billion. An equally visible leader on the city’s civic scene, he’s also a force for Republican party fundraising here. Mixon, along with fellow Cleveland business leaders Sam Miller, Umberto Fedeli, Albert Ratner and Ed Crawford, chaired a $2,300-a-head lunch for GOP presidential candidate John McCain in February.