{"id":11968,"date":"2015-01-23T17:01:18","date_gmt":"2015-01-23T22:01:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/?p=11968"},"modified":"2015-01-23T17:01:18","modified_gmt":"2015-01-23T22:01:18","slug":"community-foundation-hosts-book-signing-for-founders-latest-release-john-sheppards-eighth-book-delves-into-lee-countys-connection-to-the-heroes-and-battles-of-wwi-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/2015\/01\/23\/community-foundation-hosts-book-signing-for-founders-latest-release-john-sheppards-eighth-book-delves-into-lee-countys-connection-to-the-heroes-and-battles-of-wwi-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Community Foundation hosts book signing for founder\u2019s latest release; John Sheppard\u2019s eighth book delves into Lee County\u2019s connection to the heroes and battles of WWI & II"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\"\"<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

John Sheppard and Bob Martin<\/p>\n

FORT MYERS, Fla. (Jan. 23, 2015) \u2013 The Southwest Florida Community Foundation<\/a> recently hosted a book signing for one of its founders John Sheppard\u2019s latest book releases.<\/p>\n

Sheppard\u2019s book, \u201cImpact Six Degrees of Separation,\u201d focuses on Lee County\u2019s connection to the heroes and battles of WWI and WWII. Notable figures highlighted in the book include General John Pershing, Colonel Paul Tibbetts, Thomas Edison, General Jimmy Doolittle, President Franklin Roosevelt, Colonel Charles Lindbergh and Henry Ford.<\/p>\n

The cover of the book was designed by his wife and artist Ellen Sheppard.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo many veterans who trained here during the wars have left an indelible mark in our community, and it was my honor to research the many war heroes who have ties to our area,\u201d said Sheppard.<\/p>\n

Proceeds of the book sales benefited a variety of nonprofit organizations.<\/p>\n

Sheppard was instrumental in founding the Southwest Florida Community Foundation along with J. Tom Smoot, Jr. and a small group of civic leaders in 1976. He has been a trustee for many years and remains active with the Foundation. He is well known in the community as a humanitarian who devotes his life to helping others.<\/p>\n

Born in Lee County, Sheppard attended Fort Myers High School and the University of Florida in Gainesville to earn his bachelor\u2019s and Juris Doctor degrees. After graduation, Sheppard served in the U.S. Army for two years and then joined his family law firm. He retired after 37 years of private practice. Writing and publishing books has kept him busy since retiring.<\/p>\n

As leaders, conveners, grant makers and concierges of philanthropy, the Southwest Florida Community Foundation is a foundation built on community leadership with an inspired history of fostering regional change for the common good in Lee, Collier, Charlotte, Hendry and Glades counties. The Community Foundation, founded in 1976, connects donors and their philanthropic aspirations with evolving community needs. With assets of more than $80 million, the Community Foundation has provided more than $60 million in grants and scholarships to the communities it serves. Last year, the Foundation granted more than $2.8 million to nonprofit organizations supporting education, animal welfare, arts, healthcare and human services. The Foundation granted $782,000 in nonprofit grants including more than $400,000 in regional community impact grants and additional $450,000 in scholarship grants.<\/p>\n

For more information about the Southwest Florida Community Foundation, call 239-274-5900 or visit\u00a0www.floridacommunity.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Monique Ward, Francesca Donlan, Melanie Holaway and Carol Robinson<\/p>\n

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Mary Eller, David Robinson and Monique Ward<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Marshall Bower, Jay Brett, Mark Lewis and John Sheppard<\/p>\n

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John Sheppard and Mary Eller<\/p>\n

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John Sheppard and Gay Thompson<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Francesca Donlan and Marshall Bower<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Dave Fleming, Chris Hill and Larry Hobbs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 John Sheppard and Bob Martin FORT MYERS, Fla. (Jan. 23, 2015) \u2013 The Southwest Florida Community Foundation recently hosted a book signing for one of its founders John Sheppard\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,1],"tags":[3952,3937,3938,3939,3940,29,3941,3942,3943,3558,3945,3944,30,3946,16,1046,3947,2018,590,672,3948,3949,3950,3951],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11968"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11968\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}