“Mal was very comfortable with who Mal was.”
Malachi (Mal) Mixon III, philanthropist and president, CEO and then chairman of Invacare Corp. until his retirement in 2015, was a “renaissance man with wildly eclectic musical tastes.”
That’s how Paul Hogle, president and CEO of the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM), describes the Oklahoma-born, athletic sports fan, Vietnam War vet, health advocate, arts-loving, quail-hunting and devoted husband Mixon, who died in November. Mixon also lobbied passionately for the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
The Harvard-educated Mixon was named CIM’s first life trustee. He was responsible for the “transformational gift” that created Mixon Hall, a premier performance space. Years from now, the venue will be mentioned with the same respect as Severance Hall or Carnegie Hall, according to Hogle, who most admired Mixon’s “clarity of thought.”
Mixon settled easily into the life of luxury his business ventures (he led Invacare for 31 years) and clever investments afforded him. Along the way, he and his wife, Barbara, shared their good fortune with countless Northeast Ohio causes and institutions.
Mixon was also equally at home with the idea of pursuing a simple life. When Mixon’s memoir, “An American Journey,” was published in 2013, one Amazon book reviewer claimed Mixon (a teenager at the time) was his little league baseball coach.
“I learned from Mal to do your best with what you have,” wrote the reviewer, adding that Mixon told the team to dye white T-shirts so they all looked the same because they couldn’t afford uniforms.
Also, when Mixon’s two multimillion-dollar Texas ranches went on the market in 2019, he described one as just having a steel barn with “a toilet, running water, stove and place to have lunch.” Mixon could comfortably hang his hat anywhere, and by example, taught others to do the same.