Massive Marble Statue to be Unveiled at Summer Fundraiser

BAZETTA TOWNSHIP, Ohio – The tallest robotically carved marble sculpture in the United States will be unveiled this summer at the annual “An Evening Under the Stars” fundraiser.

The event will take place at 5 p.m. Aug. 17 at Cadobaz, the estate of Dr. Farid Naffah, 2747 Cadwallader Sonk Road, Cortland.

Proceeds will benefit Avamar Foundation, the charity founded by Naffah to provide financial aid to elderly patients so they can purchase prescription medicine.

Naffah presents the benefit event every summer at Cadobaz, which stands for “culture, art and dining, of Bazetta.” The event is in its 16th year.

The sculpture, titled Lady Kindness, is 29.3 feet tall and weighs 80 tons. A monument to kindness, it was robotically sculpted out of white Carrara marble and is designed to withstand the Ohio weather.

Naffah commissioned stone carver Dale Johnson of Sunbury, Ohio, and portrait artist Laura Bush to create the model. A team from Garfagnana Innovazione of Italy scanned the model, sourced the marble, milled it using robotic techniques and erected it at Cadobaz in November.

The sculpture was featured in Smithsonian magazine last year.

Designed in Hellenistic style, the sculpture transposes a Greek deity to modern times.

To learn more about the statue and the Avamar Foundation, and to purchase tickets to the August event, go to LadyKindness.com.

Pictured at top: The Lady Kindness statue.

Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.