Title-service owner wins Danville Rotary honor

DANVILLE – People of Vermilion County are used to seeing Pat O'Shaughnessy heading a United Way campaign, chairing the Festival of Trees or, a few years ago, recruiting volunteers for the Balloon Classic, but he really does have an 8-to-5 job.

O'Shaughnessy was honored on Monday as the Danville Rotary Club's 2009 Vocational Service Person of the Year, and was asked to talk about himself and his career.

"I come to service clubs to talk about functions, events, fundraising, never to talk about me," he said. "Nine out of 10 times I speak to people about community volunteer opportunities as opposed to real estate and property titles."

Amy Marchant, chairman of the award committee, said nominations referred to how O'Shaughnessy translated his vocational skills into helping the community.

"He teaches at Danville Area Community College, sits on boards that deal with real estate and zoning and utilities along with all the community service projects he works on," she said.

The award recognizes people who practice high ethical standards in their chosen vocational field.

"He's built a great business, beautified his building to show how much he cares about the downtown. He exemplifies the Rotary tradition of 'Service Above Self,'" Marchant added.

O'Shaughnessy is a Catlin native and a graduate of Illinois State University. He worked in Dixon and Rockford, then returned to Danville in 1990 to work as a commercial lender at First Midwest Bank. In 1997, he became co-owner of Vermilion County Title with Jill Kavanaugh.

"We run a service company," O'Shaughnessy said. "We make the real estate transaction go smoother. Everyone does their part, the buyer, the seller, the real estate agents, the appraiser, the home inspector, we are all a part of it, but we do a search and insure that there are no broken links in the title to property. We make sure you have clear title and no one's going to make a claim on your property."

O'Shaughnessy likes what he does because "there's a little piece of history happening with every property we touch. We do the search, it gets examined and we put the pieces of the puzzle together in a timely manner."

In recognition of the award, a $1,000 donation was made to the Rotary International Foundation and a Paul Harris Fellowship Award recipient will be honored. The etched-glass award and medal will join the myriad of memorabilia and awards from his service in the community that he proudly displays in his office.

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