T-L Photo/ROBERT A. DEFRANK Belmont College Energy Institute Manager Ed Mowrer, right, shows Barnesville Rotary Club member Tom Morrison around the campus Friday.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Area Rotary clubs are partnering with local colleges to celebrate the life and history of the late Belmont County native Arthur G. James, namesake of the Ohio State University James Cancer Hospital & Solove Research Institute, and to raise funds for the fight against cancer.

The plans were announced Friday at Belmont College. The event will be at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Shannon Hall at Ohio University Eastern. There will be no charge for admission charge, but donations will be accepted for the Rotary Kick Cancer Research Endowment Fund.

Tom Morrison of the Barnesville Rotary Club was inspired to help organize the event after hearing a presentation from fellow Barnesville Rotarian Nancy Napolitano.

James was born Arthur Giangiacomo in 1912 in the former mining town of Rhodesdale, located northeast of St. Clairsville near the Ohio River. He was the son of a coal miner and the third of eight children of Italian immigrants. Rhodesdale no longer exists, but his family owned a grocery store and restaurant in the St. Clairsville area. He graduated from St. Clairsville High School in 1930 as co-valedictorian before attending OSU.

After continuing his education at Duke University in North Carolina, James returned to Ohio and became a surgeon in Columbus.

“It was a very well-kept secret to me, and I thought: ‘Wow, what an amazing thing,'” Morrison said.

He said James’ grandson, Arthur James, will speak at the event.

“To go ahead and talk about Dr. James and his childhood in rural Belmont County,” Morrison said. “He pushed for a cancer center in Columbus. He performed surgeries and did medical work at the Columbus cancer center at the time. … His goal and dream was to have a cancer center in Ohio.”

Morrison said James would seek out influential friends and backers and form a coalition to build a center.

“Construction started in 1983. In 1987, they unveiled a cornerstone and they surprised Dr. James by naming this cancer center after him, so I put this event together. It’s a twofold kind of event. Number one, I thought it’d be great to bring one of Dr. James’ family members back to Belmont County so we can learn about Dr. James growing up, and his push for the cancer center,” Morrison said. “It’s also going to be a cancer fundraiser, and Rotary 6690 has a foundation that raises money for cancer research. Every year they give the proceeds of the foundation to the James Cancer Center.

“My motivation for this is personal. I’m a patient at the cancer center. I have a very rare leukemia I’ve been dealing with for about two years,” Morrison said. “Thirty years ago, the cancer I had was a death sentence. There was no cure for it, no treatment for it. Because people gave money for cancer research, I’m going to survive this and I’m going to live on, and it’s all because money was given for cancer research and they found not a cure for it, but a treatment.”

Morrison said the public is welcome to attend.

Donations can be sent to Rotary District 6690 in care of Treasurer John Vogelpohl, 4801 Piedmont Drive, Hilliard, OH 43026. Make the check out to The James Hospital and in the memo write “Kick Cancer endowment 666250.”