Frank Shankwitz is one of the founders of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Former Arizona Highway Patrol Officer died at 77
Frank Shankwitz, the co-founder of the Make-A-Wish charity and a former Arizona state police officer, died.
The Make-A-Wish organization confirmed that Shankwitz died at his home in Prescott from esophageal cancer. He was 77 years old.
Make-A-Wish is known for fulfilling the wishes of children who deal with critical illnesses. ‘Wishes’ range from travel to full-day experiences.
The organization was created in 1980 after Shankwitz and five others helped a seven-year-old boy, Phoenix, who was struggling with leukemia, to be a road cop for a day.
Shankwitz also initially served as its president and CEO.
The charity estimates that it has helped fulfill the wishes of more than 500,000 children. It has grown to 60 chapters across the country.
Frank Shankwitz was a member of the Arizona Highway Patrol’s ten-man tactical unit, which covered the entire state by motorcycle. He remained in the police department for 42 years before retiring in 2014. He started Make-A-Wish in 1980
Shankwitz was a patrol officer in the Arizona Department of Public Security from 1972 until his retirement in 1996, according to the state agency. He is photographed in 2019
Shankwitz was a patrol officer in the Arizona Department of Public Security from 1972 until his retirement in 1996, according to the state agency.
He remained a backup detective, but he also worked for the Arizona Motor Vehicles Division’s Special Investigations Office. In all, he worked 42 years in law enforcement.
The Make-A-Wish idea started with a boy with a terminal illness who was only a week old.
His last wish was to become a police officer and it was up to Shankwitz to help him.
Shankwitz was on patrol one afternoon when the dispatcher called and ordered him to find the nearest pay phone as soon as possible – his commanders at the station had an important message for him.
Frank Shankwitz shows Chris Greicius his motorcycle. The police department had a uniform tailored for Greicius; the store owner and two employees stayed up all night sewing to finish on time. Chris died a few days later
Frank Shankwitz is portrayed with Chris Greicius, the 7-year-old boy who inspired him to help start the Make-a-Wish Foundation
Chris Greicius poses in his police uniform on his motorcycle
‘I called thinking I was in trouble for something,’ he recalls during a 2019 interview with DailyMail.com.
Instead, he was being asked for a favor by a customs agent named Tom Austin, who had befriended a boy named Chris Greicius with leukemia.
Chris’s heroes were Ponch and John from the hit California Highway Patrol TV show, CHiPS, and his only desire was to meet a real motorcycle cop.
They agreed to pick Chris up from the hospital in the helicopter and take him to the police headquarters in Phoenix.
“As the helicopter approached … I was able to look up and see the boy’s face pressed against the glass, with a big smile on his face,” said Shankwitz, who hoped paramedics would help him as soon as they landed.
Instead, Chris ran out the door with energy, ‘He was laughing and giggling, running all over the place.’ He couldn’t contain his excitement. Shankwitz remembers looking at Chris’s mother crying: ‘At first, I couldn’t understand why. Then I realized that she has her seven-year-old son back.
The police sergeant from Shankwitz sits with Chris Greicius, the seven-year-old boy diagnosed with leukemia and whose last wish was to become a motorcycle policeman like his heroes on the CHiPS TV show.
Chris’s dream was to be a motorcycle officer and the station ordered him a set of ‘wings’ – the silver badge that all motorcycle cops wear on their uniforms.
Before they had a chance to introduce him, Chris took a devastating turn for the worse and fell into a coma.
Shankwitz ran to the hospital and pinned him in his tiny custom-made uniform that hung near his bed – he became the first and only honorary highway patrol officer in the state of Arizona. He died a few days later.
Coming back from Chris’s funeral was when Shankwitz had the idea for Make-A-Wish, ‘I started thinking, here’s a boy who had a wish and we made it happen. Why can’t we do this for other children? And that was when the Make-A-Wish idea was born.
Frank Shankwitz’s life was dramatized last year in the movie Wish Man
Getting Make-A-Wish off the ground was not easy, but Shankwitz’s work ethic helped propel the project, as he continued to work full-time in the police department while trying to balance the nonprofit on long days. 20 hours.
After 18 months, Shankwitz decided to hand the reins over to more capable hands. ‘I was also getting into the narcotic at the time, I could no longer have my face and name stamped everywhere.’
Shankwitz knew he needed professional help from the nonprofit world: ‘You’ve heard the phrase’ surround yourself with people smarter than you ‘, right? Well, that was the best decision the board made at the time. ‘
They started hiring people with experience, background and appropriate contacts to make Make-A-Wish what it is today – a non-profit organization in 50 countries around the world that has helped to fulfill more than 334,000 wishes.
Frank Shankwitz is portrayed at the premiere of his film, Wish Man, which premiered in 2019
Andrew Steele, who plays Frank Shankwitz, talks to the young actor who plays Chris Greicius during a touching scene from the movie Wish Man, which was released in 2019