In 1904, the American industrialist and philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie, created the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission, whose mission is “to recognize and support those who perform acts of heroism in civilian life in the United States and Canada.” The 1905 class of heroes consisted of three young people, all of whom had risked their lives to save others from drowning. The class of 2020 included a seventeen-year-old boy, who scaled a thirty-foot rock wall, without climbing gear, to reach and rescue a badly injured woman. This year’s class also honored an eighty-six-year old woman, who died of injuries suffered while fending off an attacker who had assaulted a friend.[1]
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