DaimlerChrysler donates $100,000 to sponsor Art Tatum Jazz Festival

-- DaimlerChrysler donates $100,000 to sponsor Art Tatum Jazz Festival -- Automotive and musical ties with Toledo enrich community

TOLEDO, Ohio, June 22 -- The DaimlerChrysler Corporation Fund and DaimlerChrysler Corp. jointly sponsored the Art Tatum Jazz Heritage Festival in Toledo, Ohio last weekend.

"The Art Tatum Jazz Heritage Festival is an opportunity for DaimlerChrysler to share in the city's vision and build on the partnership of two Toledo legends -- Art Tatum and the all-American Jeep(R)," said Frank Fountain, DaimlerChrysler Senior Vice President - External Affairs and Public Policy (Auburn Hills) and President of the DaimlerChrysler Corporation Fund. "We were excited to once again be the title sponsor of a festival that builds on the strength and heritage of this community."

The Art Tatum Jazz Heritage Festival began in 2000, when the Toledo Jazz Society received permission to use the Tatum name. The festival offered jazz music from national and local talent.

Through the DaimlerChrysler Corporation Fund, the company recently invested $250,000 to refurbish 15.4 acres of land near the Toledo Assembly Plant for the construction of the city's newest community park as well as supporting the Toledo Urban League, City's Youth Entrepreneur Program, Toledo Opera, the Toledo Museum of Art, Valentine Theatre and the Diamante Awards.

Chrysler Group's operations in the greater Toledo area include the Toledo (Ohio) North Assembly Plant, Toledo South (Ohio) Assembly Plant and the Toledo Machining Plant (Perrysburg, Ohio). Additionally, Toledo has been home to the Jeep(R) brand since 1941 when the vehicles were built by the Willis Overland Corporation.

The DaimlerChrysler Fund, now in its 52nd year, is the primary source of charitable grants made by DaimlerChrysler Corporation. The Fund annually supports hundreds of charitable organizations with an emphasis on community growth, arts and education, in the United States and increasingly throughout the world.