John Fulton, Sr. was really quite a guy. Patient, empathetic and generous to a fault, he was adored by his family and friends. He grew up in Huntington, raised his family here and ran a wildly successful business out of a building in the village.
A member of Huntington High School’s Class of 1973, Mr. Fulton was proud of his long association with his alma mater. He sent his own children through the school and was often seen in the crowd at events throughout the district. When he lost his battle with multiple myeloma on August 27, 2009 at 55 years old, it was a terrible blow to his family and friends, whose hearts sank.
Mr. Fulton owned and operated the Huntington Pennysaver Group. As a successful businessman he was in a position to help others in need and he didn’t hesitate to do just that whenever he could, usually flying under the radar and preferring that no one even knew what he had done.
The John F. Fulton Foundation was created by the Fulton family to perpetuate the memory and values of a special man who believed that young people and the schools they attend play an integral role in every community.
“My father believed in education, first and foremost,” said Alexandra Fulton, who presented the Fulton Memorial Scholarship on behalf of her family at this month’s Blue Devil senior athletic awards banquet. “He stressed that education stayed with a person for their entire life. He was also a deep admirer of Huntington’s athletes and he rarely missed a game when his three children were on Blue Devil teams. It didn’t matter where the game was, what time it was scheduled for or what the weather was like. He was there.”
This year’s $250 Fulton scholarship was presented to Ryan Stieve, one of the top members of Huntington High School’s Class of 2017. He is headed to the SUNY College at Geneseo.
Mr. Stieve has garnered varsity athletic letters in football, wrestling and lacrosse, serving as captain of the latter two teams. All-League in wrestling, he captured New York State Scholar Athlete honors.
The Fulton Foundation made its first scholarship presentation in June 2012, recognizing Daniel Plant. The 2013 award went to John Mallouk and the 2014 scholarship was given to Christian Jamison. The 2015 award was presented to Justin Weigold, who recently finished his sophomore year at SUNY Maritime, where he is studying electrical engineering. Last year’s scholarship went to Taylor Moreno, who is playing lacrosse at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.