J. Kimball Johnson

…errelated problems of the central city. Johnson regretted that the foundation’s astounding growth, although gratifying, gave him little time to think and act other than mechanically. He retired in 1967, the year after Hough erupted in violence, becoming a symbol, known around the world, for the anger of African Americans toward the inequities of opportunity their country afforded them. He graciously stepped down to allow a younger leader with a…

Katherine Bohm

…ant relatives) to the Cleveland Foundation. During 60 years of unremitting toil—later in life she had cleaned offices in downtown Cleveland and washed laundry in her three rented rooms—she had accumulated well over $10,000. Prudently invested in blue-chip stocks, Bohm’s nest egg would be worth more than $150,000 today. Bohm had been almost completely blind as a result of inoperable cataracts when she died, just a few days before her 80th…

Thomas V. H. Vail

…le until 1990. He retired as chairman in 1991. In 1978, Vail launched the New Cleveland Campaign to promote the area’s many cultural, entertainment and industrial assets. He co-founded Cleveland Tomorrow (now the Greater Cleveland Partnership), a group of business leaders who work to improve the city’s building and industrial base by bringing business and government together. He has served as a trustee of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation,…

Gateway’s Public Plaza and Art

…overseen by Cleveland Public Art attracted 125 submissions, from which four artists were commissioned to create outdoor works that became overnight sensations with fans. R. M. Fischer’s Sports Stacks, incorporating elements of the complex’s exhaust system … Nancy Dwyer’s benches entitled Meet Me Here and Who’s on First? … and a planting bed/seating area decorated with Penny Rakoff’s historic photographs of the old Central Market that once…

Sustained Resources for Neighborhood Redevelopment

Slavic Village Tremont Fairfax Ohio City Detroit Shoreway The West 25th Street retail district in Ohio City exemplifies the objective recently adopted by Neighborhood Progress, Inc. of restoring market forces in target neighborhoods. By the 1980s, Cleveland boasted a wealth of neighborhood development organizations (NDOs), but few of them had the staff or technical skills to rehab more than a handful of housing units per year, and most could…

Public Funding for Arts and Culture

…rategic plan. Among CPAC’s many subsequent accomplishments, none was more critical than its championship of public financing of the arts and culture, an endeavor endorsed by a $300,000 Cleveland Foundation grant in 2003 (see video). At the dawn of the new millennium, Cuyahoga County had among the lowest levels of public support for the sector of any peer community. CPAC initiated conversations with the county commissioners that led to their…

Leyton E. Carter

…ter had become involved as a trustee or officer with an impressive list of area organizations, including the Adult Education Association, Cleveland Chamber of Commerce, Cleveland Music School Settlement, Cuyahoga County Home Rule Association, Ohio School Survey Commission and the YMCA. He taught at the YMCA’s Cleveland School of Technology, a predecessor of today’s Cleveland State University, for 34 years, staying on to conduct evening courses…

L. Dale Dorney Fund

…ive and longtime resident of Findlay, Ohio, turned over his life savings to the Cleveland Foundation upon his death in 1976. The disposition, as well as the size, of Dorney’s $5 million estate — the equivalent of $20 million today — no doubt surprised those of his neighbors and associates who mistook for stinginess this bachelor’s frugality. Dorney, who was born in 1866, had no television or refrigerator. He preferred to spend his free time…

Championing Advanced Energy

…for the region’s economic weakness was missing out on the information technology revolution. He was determined to ensure that Greater Cleveland participated in what he correctly believed would become a big-industry cluster. Today, advanced energy enterprises generate $46 billion in annual revenues and account for 400,000 jobs worldwide. In 2004, Richard won board approval to take the first step toward gauging the technical and economic…

Reinvention

…undation’s board, explained that GCAF would dedicate itself to exploring “possible solutions to broad problems that are too extensive and too costly to be attacked by existing organizations, which must concentrate on solving today’s urgent problems today.” Although legally a nonprofit Ohio corporation with its own staff and 11-member board, GCAF was technically a new trust fund of the Cleveland Foundation. “All of its funds will go for studying…