R.J. Corman Honors Founder’s Legacy, Supports Dana-Farber

Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
(Photograph Courtesy of R.J. Corman Railroad Group)

(Photograph Courtesy of R.J. Corman Railroad Group)

R.J. Corman Railroad Group, in its 50th anniversary, has contributed $50,000 to the Richard J. Corman Multiple Myeloma Fund for research at Harvard’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

R.J. Corman Railroad Group on Feb. 6 reported that the combined donations of the company, employees, and a gift in honor of company friends and customers this past Christmas, honor the legacy of Founder Richard J. “Rick” Corman, who died in 2013, following a 12-year battle with cancer. He was 58.

Corman established a railroad construction company in 1973, the year he graduated from high school, and built the business into the R.J. Corman Railroad Group, a diversified railroad service provider, which now operates short line railroads, including locomotive and car repair, engineering, and railcar storage; provides logistics services, including material sales, transloading, distribution centers, and switching; and offers construction services, including railroad construction, maintenance-of-way, and emergency and storm work.

After Corman was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2001, he sought treatment at Dana-Farber. He met cancer researcher Dr. Paul Richardson, who would become his primary physician, and generously donated funds each year for more research at the Institute through the foundation that today bears his name, reported R.J. Corman Railroad Group, which supports the foundation each year.

According to the company, R.J. Corman Railroad Group President and CEO Ed Quinn met recently with Dr. Richardson (now Clinical Program Leader and Director of Clinical Research of the Jerome Lipper Multiple Myeloma Center and R.J. Corman, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School) and Dr. Constantine S. Mitsiades (Associate Professor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School) on a virtual conference call for an update on cancer research advances.

R. J. Corman Railroad Group said it “is incredibly grateful for this partnership and the opportunity to allow us to support the battle to cure this terrible disease.”

In related developments, R.J. Corman Rail Group in December 2022 finalized a donation to assist in the movement of the Wimmer Railroad Collection to the Sarpy County Museum in Nebraska. The R.J. Corman Railroad Company/Memphis Line (RJCM) was the Railway Age 2021 Short Line of the Year, and the R.J. Corman West Virginia Line was the Railway Age 2007 Short Line of the Year.

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