‘Meaningful’ Honor NCCF Recognizes Dan Reininga With Award | News, Sports, Jobs

Dan Reininga was selected as this year’s recipient of the George B. Weaver Jr. Footprints Award.
P-J photo by Braden Carmen

The annual meeting of the Northern Chautauqua Community Foundation was capped off with a touching tribute. At the meeting, Dan Reininga was selected as the George B. Weaver Jr. Footprints Award winner for 2023.

“It’s really, truly an honor to receive this award,” Reininga said to the audience. “… Thank you so much for this award. It’s very meaningful to me and my family. We thank you so much for it.”

For a man who brought his whole family with him to share in his acknowledgment, what followed after his acceptance speech left him in tears. A heartfelt video tribute to Reininga was shown to the audience that packed the auditorium at Erie 2 BOCES for the annual meeting, featuring his family in the front row with him. In the video, speaking to Reininga’s legacy brought out emotion from his daughter.

“That’s one of the words that describes my dad well is legacy. A really great job well done in the family legacy, the community legacy, the work ethic in our family business at the bank,” said Reininga’s daughter, Elizabeth Geiger. “He’s wonderful. He gets it right. He sees the bigger picture. He sees how important family is, and I think that he sees the importance of a person, and that all people are important.”

Reininga recently retired as President and CEO of Lake Shore Bancorp, Inc., and has served the community in various ways throughout his career. He has served on the boards of the SUNY Fredonia College Foundation and Brooks Memorial Hospital. He is a member of the boards of the Gow School, Buffalo Hearing and Speech Center, and the Mikey’s Way Foundation.

“Dan is just such a great leader. He was a great leader at the bank, he was someone you could always talk to,” said Adam Dimitri, vice president of retail banking at Lake Shore Savings Bank.

Reininga was previously President of G.H. Graf Realty Corp., Inc., based in Dunkirk, from 1993-2010. He continues to serve as the real-estate development and property-management company’s board chair.

“Definitely in the community and the city of Dunkirk, he has done great things for the city with his development, with his support, with his philanthropy. It has certainly made an impact on people’s lives in the community,” Dimitri said.

Reininga is also chairman of the Northern Chautauqua Community Foundation’s $10 million capital campaign. He credited the foundation and all of its members who packed the auditorium to celebrate his achievement.

“It takes a community to raise a child. I’m the child, you guys are the community. You’ve done a great job through all your efforts,” Reininga said.