John A. Greene (1893–1980) spent much of his Nebraska boyhood visiting patients at the mental hospital where his physician father worked. After graduating from the University of Chicago, in 1914 Greene entered the telephone business as an accounting clerk at the Chicago Telephone Company. He served two years in the Navy during World War I, then in 1919 joined Cleveland Bell Telephone (Ohio Bell’s predecessor) and quickly rose through its ranks. By 1932 he was vice president and general manager for northeast Ohio and in 1945 was appointed operating VP. In 1950, he moved to Detroit to head Michigan Bell, returning to Cleveland two years later to serve as president of Ohio Bell.

Before his retirement in 1958, Greene was trustee of a dozen community service groups and in 1942 had been voted Cleveland’s “First Citizen” for his work as president of the Welfare Federation. After retiring, he continued his philanthropic efforts, serving as chairman of Western Reserve University, president of United Appeal, president of United Community Funds and Councils of America, vice president of the Cleveland YMCA and trustee of the Cleveland Zoological Society.