Charles Toeniskoetter first joined the Boy Scouts in his hometown of St. Louis. He enjoyed sports and working toward merit badges.

"Young men find themselves while earning merit badges," Toeniskoetter said.

If that statement is true, Toeniskoetter definitely found himself. While a Boy Scout, Toeniskoetter earned 13 merit badges, attained the rank of Star and became an Explorer Scout. He said the guidance of his Missouri scoutmaster, Mr. Boston, a retired truck driver, made a strong impact on his life.

"I'll never forget Mr. Boston. The guy was incredible. He took us camping and taught us the scouting principles, and Mrs. Boston organized the meetings," he remembers.

As a young adult, Toeniskoetter went on to attend the University of Notre Dame, graduating in 1967 with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. He then earned a master's degree from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1973. After college, Toeniskoetter joined the Marine Corps. He served in Vietnam, and then transferred with the Marines to California.

Toeniskoetter is now quite the businessman. He co-founded two companies in San Jose in 1983. He is the chairman of TBI Construction and Construction Management, which has constructed more than $750 million worth of buildings, and is the chairman and CEO of Toeniskoetter and Breeding Inc. Development, which has developed 2.5 million square feet of buildings and manages a portfolio of two million square feet. He is the director of three publicly held companies—Heritage Commerce Corp., SJW Corp. and the Redwood Trust Inc. He also heads a partnership that owns resort properties in Bear Valley and Alpine County.

However, even while working tirelessly to drive the success of his businesses, Toeniskoetter works just as hard to give back to the community. He has served on and chaired the boards of directors for many charitable foundations. For example, he was involved with the Children's Discovery Museum when it was built and helped with its operations; he helps out the spinal rehabilitation center and the foundation that supports Valley Medical Center; he served on the board at O'Conner Hospital for many years; and he returned to his alma mater, the University of Notre Dame, to help establish the school of architecture, support its operations and chair its advisory council.

The list could go on. However, ask Toeniskoetter about how he co-founded the Stroke Awareness Foundation, and that will really get him talking. "Probably the [organization] that has the biggest impact right now on the community is the Stroke Awareness Foundation. From Los Gatos' perspective, it's an important thing," he said.

Toeniskoetter explains that the foundation has three important purposes.

"The first is to help secure certifications of primary stroke centers and hospitals, which is a very difficult thing to achieve. If anyone has a stroke, these hospitals are where they go. That's really important, because if you have a family member that has a stroke, it can devastate the family overnight. Having stroke centers in our community is crucial to minimizing that."

Toeniskoetter said there are currently three nearby centers, with a fourth coming in the near future. "Good Samaritan was first, right there near Los Gatos. Now there is also Stanford and Kaiser Santa Clara. Next will be Kaiser Santa Teresa," he said.

Toeniskoetter said the second purpose of the foundation is influencing the local ambulance systems.

"[We try to get] the ambulance system to take stroke victims in our community to those stroke certified centers only. Typically, they take them to the nearest hospital. That's not good. They need to go to those stroke centers. We're getting close to that," he said.

Toeniskoetter said the third purpose is to spread the word about the goals the Stroke Awareness Foundation is working toward.

Toeniskoetter and his family have lived in Los Gatos, up in the mountains off Summit Road, for 28 years now. His wife, Linda, also is active in the community, and is an artist and yoga teacher. His son, Adam, played football at Los Gatos High School, and is now attending University of Central Florida in Orlando, where he plays football for the Golden Knights. Toeniskoetter has three daughters—Erin, who works for TBI in property management; Leah, who works for Comerica Bank in San Jose; and Megan, who works for the Thomas Kinkade Company in Morgan Hill.

"The Boy Scouts have a special place in my history. I was pleased to be asked," he said.

Toeniskoetter was honored at the Santa Clara County Council of the Boy Scouts of America's 30th Annual Distinguished Citizen Dinner, held at the Fairmont Hotel in downtown San Jose on Nov. 18.

"Chuck Toeniskoetter has a distinguished record of professional success and community involvement," said Council President Roy Avondet. "We are pleased to add his name to the list of great and distinguished people from our community who support scouting."

Following his acceptance of the award, Toeniskoetter said he will be helping the Boy Scouts secure food for the Second Harvest Food Bank.

"They do wonderful work. I'm pleased to do that. The Boy Scouts collect a lot of food for them," said Toeniskoetter.