The Bluffton Lions Club selected Fred Steiner, owner of the Ada and Bluffton Icons, as the recipient of its Citizen of the Year award for 2017.

Steiner is the former director of the Bluffton Area Chamber of Commerce and the Bluffton Center for Entrepreneurs. he is a member of the Bluffton Community Assistance Board, the Bluffton Pathway Bicycle Board, the R.L. and Etta Triplett Memorial Foundation and the Evangelical Mennonite Cemetery board.

In 2009 he and his wife, Mary, created The Bluffton Icon, an online news source for news, photos and contacts. The Ada Icon was formed in 2012.

Steiner graduated from Bluffton High School, attended Bluffton College and graduated as a journalism major from Bowling Green State University. He served as editor of the Pandora Times for a year, followed by approximately 25 years as editor of the Bluffton News. During his editorship at the Bluffton News, the paper won several state and national awards.

A dinner will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 17, to recognize Steiner’s accomplishments in the third floor meeting room of Bluffton’s Town Hall.

Reservations are required by April 8 and may be made by mailing payment of $16 per person to Bluffton Lions, Box 223, Bluffton or by calling Barbara Plaugher 419-204-2242 with payment guaranteed at the door.