Walter Beach III was born in Pontiac, Michigan, in 1933. Before attending college, Beach served in the U.S. Air force, spending three years in Germany as a cryptographer. He graduated from Central Michigan University and played defensive back in both the Canadian and National Football Leagues, including with the the Cleveland Browns during the team's 1964 Championship season. He served as the director for Countil for Youth Opportunities during Carl Stokes' mayoral administration. He is a lawyer and author.
Betty Pinkney and her husband, Arnold, were long time advocates for Carl and Louis Stokes. Arnold helped with Louis Stoke's election to Congress and was a major strategist for the Democratic party. Arnold Pinkney, an insurance executive, also ran Jesse Jackson's national campaign for president in 1984.
Mary Rose Oakar was born in Cleveland, Ohio. She was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives between 1977 and 1993, representing Ohio's 20th District, and being the first Arab-American member of the House of Representatives. She was Vice Chairperson of the House Democratic Caucus, 1985-1989, and served as president of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. She served in the Ohio House of Representatives, serving Cleveland's 13th District, between 2001 and 2002. In 2012 she was elected to the Ohio State Board of Education to represent the 11th District.
The Rev. Dr. Joan Campbell was born in Youngstown and is an ordained pastor, who has committed her life to service and activism working with important leaders such as Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King, Jr. She worked to organize voters for Carl Stokes' mayoral campaign.She is also the mother of Jane Campbell, the first female mayor of Cleveland, Ohio.
Peggy Zone-Fisher is a native Clevelander. She is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Diversity Center NEO. Zone-Fisher's parents both served as Cleveland City Council members for Ward 15, the Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood on Cleveland's west side.
George L. Forbes was born in Memphis, Tennessee. He has owned a law firm in Cleveland, Ohio, since 1971. He was a city councilman during 1963-1989 and served as the first black council president during his last eighteen years in office. Mr. Forbes was elected president of the Cleveland NAACP in 1992 and was appointed to the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation in 1995.
Dr. Grover C. Gilmore is the Dean and Professor of Applied Social Sciences at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, Case Western Reserve University. He received his PhD. from John Hopkins University.
Norman Krumholz was born in Passaic, New Jersey. He served as the City of Cleveland's planning director under Mayors Carl Stokes, Ralph Perk, and Dennis Kucinich. He also led the Cleveland Center for Neighborhood Development from 1979 to 1984 and served on the Cleveland City Planning Commission between 2006 and 2014.
The Honorable Jane L. Campbell is a native Clevelander, who has the distinction of being Cleveland's first female mayor, serving from 2002 to 2006. In 1975, Campbell founded WomenSpace, a coalition of women's organizations that advocated for the creation of Ohio's first shelter for battered women and promoted women for community and government leadership. She served in Ohio's House of Representatives from 1986 to 1996. In 1996 she was elected Cuyahoga County commissioner. She is currently Director of the Washington office of the National Development Council and president of Women Impacting Public Policy.
Virgil Dominic was born in Oklahoma in 1934. He first came to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1965 when he served as news anchor at WKRYC Channel 3. He moved to Atlanta, Georgia, to work at that city's ABC affiliate in 1972. In 1976 he returned to Cleveland,to become news director at WJW Channel 8, and eventually became the station's general manager, retiring from the station in 1995. HE is a member of five hall of fames: Cleveland Broadcasters, Cleveland Press Club, Ohio Broadcasters, Associated Press, and UPI.
Sister Alicia Alvarado and Jose Feliciano are both active in the Hispanic community. Sister Alvarado was born in Puerto Rico, immigrating to the United States when she was 6 years old. She received degrees from Cleveland State University, Case Western Reserve University, and Kent State. And she entered the the Sisters of St. Dominic of Akron in 1979. Sister Alvarado was only junior in High School when she worked in a storefront campaign office to help Carl Stokes run for mayor.
Mr. Feliciano made history by becoming Cleveland's first Hispanic chief prosecuting attorney. He was also born in Puerto Rico and moved to Cleveland in 1952, to grow up on the near West side of Cleveland, in what is now known as Ohio City. Mr. Feliciano has been involved with the Greater Cleveland Partnership and the Commission on Economic Inclusion.