Christopher Butler
Butler worked as a free-lance radio and print journalist for WCPN
90.3 and the West Times. His book, Across Many Fields: A Season of Ohio High
School Football emerged from his interest in cultural trends in the U.S. Butler
has an M.A. in American Studies. He lives in Morris, Minnesota.
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Peter Chakerian
Chakerian is the author of last year's The Browns Fan's Tailgating Guide, and is an award-winning author who has written for numerous publications, including The Plain Dealer, Akron Beacon Journal, Cleveland Magazine, and Scene Magazine. He was most recently the Managing Editor of CoolCleveland.com, a weekly online “e-blast” newsletter on arts, culture, economic development and all things cool in Cleveland. Chakerian lives in Bay Village, Ohio with his wife, Susan, son, Christopher and daughter, Megan.
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Daniel J. Cook
Native Clevelander Daniel J. Cook is a co-founder of Cleveland
Landmarks Press and co-author of four of its books, including Cleveland’s
Towering Treasure, one of the company’s latest releases. Cook earned a business
degree in marketing from Cleveland State University and has spent most of his
professional career in business-to-business publishing. He was district manager
for the Chemical and Engineering News and Plastics Technology journals, as well
as publisher for a number of other trade magazines for Corcoran Communications
and Babcox Publications. Cook currently works for Comparison Marketing in
Solon, Ohio. He and his wife Kathryn are the parents of three grown children.
Dan and Kathy Cook live in Independence, Ohio.
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Gregory G. Deegan
A native Clevelander, Deegan is the co-author of CLP's 1997
release Cleveland Stadium: The Last Chapter, and the 1999 release The Heart of
Cleveland: Public Square in the 20th Century. His latest book is Surviving the Drought: Cleveland Sports Fans Since 1964, released in 2007. He is a partner in Cleveland
Landmarks Press. He has contributed articles in academic journals and as a
reporter in Columbus. He earned his master's degree in history and currently
Deegan teaches history and Cleveland public policy at Beachwood High School. He
lives with his wife Liz and three children in University Heights, Ohio.
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Alan F. Dutka
Author and native Clevelander Alan Dutka retired following a 42-year career in business. During that time, Dutka authored
four books on business: Fundamentals of Data Normalization, Competitive Intelligence for the Competitive Edge, State of the
Art Marketing Research, and Handbook for Customer Satisfaction, the later chosen as a Newbridge Executive Book Club primary
selection of the month. East Fourth Street is his first book on local history.
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Debra First
Debra First was graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 1992 with a BFA
in photography. Debbie has always been drawn to the human element, and she tries
to capture its essence in her many and varied photographic projects.
She has operated her own photography business for more than 15 years, its
primary focus on portraiture and architecture. Among her many projects, her
architectural photography highlighting Cleveland’s financial sector is featured
throughout the Hyatt Hotel and Arcade in downtown Cleveland.
The idea for Founded in Faith was conceived upon hearing the
announcement that some 50 plus parishes in the Cleveland Diocese would
be merged or closed. She felt it would be important to have her family
visit these churches and experience their grandeur and historic significance.
As the real impact of the diocese’s announcement began to settle, it became
apparent that cultural heritage would be lost and that human stories and
legacies would be left behind as these churches were closed. The focus of the
project then became to appreciate that cultural heritage, recognizing the
community of these parishes and their rich history, while also capturing the
beauty of the structures themselves.
Debbie continues to pursue the human element in her photography, while
she forever balances her work life and what she holds most dear--her family.
Debbie lives in Cleveland Heights with her husband Rick and their four boys,
Ricky, Billy, Henry, and Jamie.
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Burt Graeff
In a journalistic career spanning 40 years, Burt Graeff covered virtually every major sporting event, including the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the Kentucky Derby, the NCAA basketball Final Four, the U.S. Open and Masters golf tournaments. In his 15 years with the Cleveland Press, he covered the Cleveland Cavaliers for nine years and the Cleveland Indians for three. After the Press closed, Graeff went to the Cleveland Plain Dealer for the next 21 years, where he again covered the Cavaliers and was the back-up writer for the Indians for another 12. He retired on a buyout in 2007. Graeff was born and raised in the Cleveland area. He is a graduate of Orange High School and the Ohio State School of Journalism. He is married to his Orange H.S. classmate, June Marie Wise. They are parents of one daughter, Stacy, and have four grandchildren, Riley, Julia, Caroline, and Maggie. Graeff lives in Orange Village with his wife, his Jack Russell terrier Skip, and his three-legged cat Hobbes. Graeff previously was co-author of The Life and Legend of Joe Charboneau and From Fitch to Fratello.
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Blaine S. Hays
Hays has been associated with the public transit industry ever
since returning to Cleveland from college studies in Pittsburgh. He worked for
the old Cleveland Transit System, the Shaker Heights Rapid Transit, and retired
in August 2001 from the Rail Division of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit
Authority. A frequent speaker on transit-related topics and a Cleveland native,
Hays has authored or co- authored five books dealing with public
transportation, and the sixth is currently underway. Cleveland's Dynamic
Transit Heritage and Horse Trails to Regional Rails: The Story of Public
Transit in Cleveland. Hays is married and the father of one. He and his wife
Joanie live in Parma, Ohio.
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Richard E. Karberg
Karberg is co-author of Euclid Avenue: Cleveland's Sophisticated
Lady, 1920-1970, coming in November and now available for pre-order. He is also
the author of Silver Grille: New and Expanded Edition, The Silver Grille:
Memories and Recipes and The Higbee Company and The Silver Grille. He was a
member of the arts and humanities faculty at Cuyahoga Community College for 35
years and has since retired. He is now working as a consultant for the
Cleveland Botanical Garden. Karberg and his wife Judith, a former nurse at
Metro Health, live in Shaker Heights. They have two children.
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Ron Kuntz
In a photographic career that began in high school and continued on the professional level for United Press beginning in 1953, and later for UPI and Reuters, Ron Kuntz has traveled around the world, visiting every continent as will as both the North Pole and the South Pole. He has covered just about every major sporting event.
Major sporting events he covered include: the World Series, the Super Bowl, and 38 Kentucky Derbies. He covered 10 Olympic Games: Munich-72; Montreal-76; Moscow-80; Los Angeles-84; Seoul-88; Barcelona-92; Atlanta-96; Sydney-2000 and two Winter Games, Lake Placid-80; and Calgary-88. In 1974, he covered the Rumble in the Jungle, the Ali-Foreman championship fight in Kinshasa, Zaire. In 1978 he shot the World Cup Soccer Championship in Argentina and the Pan Am Games in Caracas, Venezuela. He has won many national and international awards and was nominated for four Pulitzer Prizes. Ron was inducted into his high school Hall of Fame in 1987. He was given the Distinguished Service Award from the Society of Professional Journalists. He was inducted into the Press Club of Cleveland’s Journalism Hall of Fame in 2006. His pictures hang in the Pro Baseball Hall of Fame.
With over three decades of service as a photographer with the Bill Glass Prison Ministry, Ron has participated in 300 prison weekends, and has been in over 2,000 prisons throughout the United States and in Peru; South Africa; Brazil; Mexico, and Puerto Rico.
Kuntz resides in North Olmsted, Ohio, with his wife Nancy and son, Josh. They have four other children, Ronnie, John, Stephen and Rebeccah.
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Michael G. Poplar
Poplar first became involved with the Cleveland Browns in 1965 as
part of his company’s annual audit of the team’s books while working for Arthur
Andersen. From 1973 through 1996 he served as the vice president and treasurer
of the Cleveland Stadium Corporation which was then operating under a lease
with Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell. The records he kept of those years
formed the documentary basis of his book, Fumble! The Browns, Modell, and the
Move, which spent almost two months on the Cleveland best seller list when it
first made its appearance in 1997. After a valiant battle with cancer, Mike
Poplar passed away in March 2005. He is survived by his wife Sunnie and five
children.
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Jennifer Rothchild
Rothchild is the photographer for Across Many Fields: A Season of
Ohio High School Football. She is an assistant professor of sociology at the
University of Minnesota at Morris and has photographed subjects in Asia and
Europe as well as the United States.
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James R. Spangler
James R. Spangler, a native Clevelander, grew up in an area of the
city well served by several streetcar lines. Following high school and a stint
in the armed services during World War II, he was employed by the Cleveland
Transit System as a traffic checker, and in that capacity came to know the
system from end to end. He then moved on to the U.S. Postal Service where he
spent the next 35 years until retirement. He joined the Euclid Railfans Group
and together with several good friends began to photograph the system. Over the
years he has accumulated a large collection of photographs documenting the
city’s streetcar heritage. He has presented programs before many Cleveland
groups, and for years has been a fixture at most of the areas railfan
gatherings. Spangler is a member of the Northern Ohio Railway Museum. He has
co-authored three books on Clevelaznd transit and contributed to many others. A
father of two and grandfather of six, he lives in suburban Mayfield Heights.
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James A. Toman
James A. Toman was born in a southeast suburb of Cleveland. At an early age, he became fascinated with streetcars, and his first college research paper was on the history of the streetcars in Cleveland. With time, his interests broadened to encompass many aspects of Cleveland history. One result of that interest was his co-founding Cleveland Landmarks Press in 1980 to publish books about the city’s history. He has authored or co-authored 18 books on various Cleveland topics, particularly those relating to the downtown district and to public transportation. An inveterate collector of Cleveland streetcar photographs, he has also photographed most of the streetcar, light rail, and subways systems in North America. He holds a doctorate in education/clinical counseling, and retired in 2006 after 43 years in the teaching field.. His last educational post was as dean of the Social Sciences/Human Services Division at Lorain County Community College. He lives in the Shaker Square neighborhood of Cleveland.
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George N. Vourlojianis
George N. Vourlojianis earned his doctorate in history, with a
specialization in 19th century American Studies, from Kent State University. He
currently is associate professor of history at Lorain County Community College
and campus advisor to the college's Phi Theta Kappa chapter. He also serves on
the adjunct faculties of Kent State University and John Carroll University
where he teaches upper-level history courses. In 1999, he received the
Distinguished Teaching Award for Arts and Sciences at Kent, and in that year he
was also designated a U.S. Military Academy Fellow. A previous book, The Cleveland Grays: An Urban Military Company 1837-1919
, was published by Kent State University Press in 2002. He lives with his wife Sally in Elyria,
Ohio.
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John Yasenosky
Yasenosky, a native Clevelander, has been a graphic designer for over 20
years. He's been painting, drawing or designing something for as long as
anyone who knows him can remember. John's design work has been a staple of
Cleveland Landmarks Press and has defined the look of its publications for
over a decade. John has designed 12 books so far, with more titles
in the works. He has a degree from Kent State University and currently works
as a corporate designer for a Cleveland greeting card company. John lives in
Mentor, Ohio.
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