For Immediate Release

Contact:  Heather O'Connell
               (239) 461-2924 or hoconnell@leegov.com

FORT MYERS, FL., April 2, 2004 - The Fort Myers-Lee County Public Library, part of the Lee County Library System, is the beneficiary of a generous bequest from a library patron.

The Fort Myers-Lee County Public Library has received a bequest of  $1,196,747.74 from the estate of June R. Cornog.  Mrs. Cornog passed away on May 28, 2002 and remembered the library in her will. The estate is now complete and the library has received the funds.

Cornog was 88, and had retired as a Commander in the United States Navy, earned a doctorate degree in Psychology, worked as an education standards expert for the National Bureau of Standards- United States Department of Commerce, and had authored a landmark study of recidivism in the Federal Penal System.

Mrs. Cornog had moved to Fort Myers in 1998, after vacationing and wintering here for four decades.

Lee County Library Director Cynthia Cobb stated, “We are extremely grateful and pleased to know that Mrs. Cornog was motivated to give to her local library so generously.”

A formal resolution recognizing Mrs. Cornog’s gift will be made at a future meeting of the Lee County Board of County Commissioners.

The Fort Myers–Lee County Public Library is one of eleven libraries in the Lee County Library System. The Lee County Library System also has two reference rooms, a talking books library, books-by-mail service, literacy office, a bookmobile and reference services by phone and on-line. There are over 1,100,000 items in the Lee County Library System collection and numerous electronic resources available both at the libraries and on-line with remote patron access.