Legacy lives on through foundation

+ Legacy lives on through foundation
Longboat Key resident Marty Samowitz, the oldest World War II Iwo Jima survivor who died Dec. 6 at age 99, is still giving back to the community. 

Kiwanis Club of Longboat Key Secretary John Wild informed more than 25 Kiwanians at the group’s Dec. 12 breakfast meeting that the club received a $5,000 check from the Martin A. Samowitz Foundation with the following note: “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. It is our privilege to send you the enclosed check to assist you in your noble endeavors.” The check was dated Dec. 1, five days before Samowitz died.

The announcement received a round of applause and whistles from the crowd, followed by a moment of silence in Samowitz’s honor and remembrances of Samowitz’s February 2012 visit to the club to share his World War II stories. 

Samowitz, who established the foundation in 2004, called it his greatest life accomplishment this October in a Longboat Observer My View column.