Investing In Community: The History And Legacy Of The Nord Family Of Ohio

This is the story of a remarkable family; a family whose positive outlook, inventiveness, international business acumen, strong ideals, and good deeds have had a major impact. It is a story of good times and bad, of hard work and its rewards, and of farsighted philanthropy. More basically, it is a story of a family deeply committed to community service and leadership. The story begins with Otto and Mary Erickson Nord, who emigrated from Sweden in the 1870s and raised six children on their farm in Ashtabula County, Ohio. It continues with their son, Walter, who came to Lorain County, Ohio shortly before World War I to supervise machinery for a sandstone-quarrying company but soon became an entrepreneur. Along with his wife, Virginia, Walter established a tradition of corporate and community leadership and wide-ranging philanthropy. The unfolding tale reveals how Walter and Virginia’s children, Mary, Eric, and Evan, and the succeeding generations have carried on the family tradition in their own ways. Today the Nord family tradition is embodied in Nordson Corporation and the Nordson Corporation Foundation, both headquartered in Westlake, Ohio, and The Nord Family Foundation, in Amherst, Ohio. With operations in thirty countries worldwide, today Nordson Corporation is the world’s leading manufacturer of systems that apply adhesives, sealants, and coatings during manufacturing operations. The Nordon Corporation Foundation provides philanthropic support to those addressing critical societal issues in communities where Nordson has domestic facilities. The Nord Family Foundation, in the tradition of its founders, Walter and Virginia Nord, strives to build community through support of projects that bring opportunity to the disadvantaged, strengthen the bonds of families, and improve the quality of people’s lives. In Amherst, Oberlin, throughout Lorain County, Ohio, in Columbia, South Carolina, elsewhere in this country and even in the far corners of the world, countless individuals and organizations have benefited from the Nords’ investment in community.