Jeanne Marie Johns – Class of 1981 – Business Executive.

Earl Miller – Class of 1981 – Professor of Neuroscience.

Philip Setzer – Class of 1969 – Professional Violinist-Founder of Emerson String Quartet.

John Slosar – Class of 1974 – Business Executive.

Richard Rood – Class of 1974 – Professional Violinist.

Jim and Linda Makee – Class of 1960 and career district employees.

 

And the Top Ranking Juniors and Seniors from Charles F. Brush High School

 

6:15 PM

32200 Chardon Rd., Willoughby Hills, Ohio

Lary Bloom – Class of 1961

A 1965 graduate of Ohio University, Lary earned a Bachelor of Science in journalism. Following college he joined the U.S. Army where he served in Vietnam, Fort Meade, Fort Lee, Fort Campbell, and Fort Gordon. He ended his Army career as a Captain in the Quartermaster Corps.

Lary has worked his entire professional life as a writer.

Employed by Yale University as a writer and editor, he also teaches the Yale University Writers Workshop. His other teaching credentials include Trinity College, where he taught from 1993 to 2003, and the FA Creative Writing program at Fairfield University, where he taught from 1993 to 2003.

Lary has edited several successful books including the international best seller, My Old Man and the Sea, by David Hays and Daniel Hays. He is the founding editor in chief of Northeast, the Hartford Courant Sunday magazine, and editor in chief of Tropic, the Miami Herald Sunday magazine.

As a contributing columnist, Lary has written for the New York Times (2007-2009), Connecticut Magazine (2002-2013), the Hartford Courant (1981-2001), and the Miami Herald (1977-1981).

 

Lary has written or co-written numerous books. His book, Letters from Nuremberg, was reviewed by Elie Wiesel. Mr. Wiesel is an author, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor who authored over 50 books, including Night. In reviewing Letters from Nuremberg, Mr. Wiesel wrote that it is “an important contribution to history.” Biographer, sports journalist, and political commentator Doris Kearns Goodwin wrote. “a tour de force-a gold mine for historians” in reviewing the same book.

Joe Hennes – Class of 2000

Looking for someone who can “tell you how to get to Sesame Street?” Joe can! Joe was nominated for the Wall of Achievement because of significant creative accomplishments since his 2004 graduation from Ohio University with a B.S. in media studies and a minor in film. Joe worked for Sesame Workshop from 2012 until 2021 in the capacity of Podcast Production Coordinator and Creative & Executive Assistant to the Creative Director. He has prominently appeared in Sesame Street episodes and written several scripts. He worked as content coordinator for “Goodnight World,” a Sesame Street podcast for Headspace to promote mindfulness during preschoolers’ bedtime routines. He was the producer and host of “People in Your Neighborhood,” a podcast featuring interviews with Sesame Workshop talent and alumni. He pitched and wrote the YouTube hit “Big Bird Man,” a Sesame Street parody of the Oscar-winning film, “Birdman,” which was co-produced by Sesame Workshop.

 

Joe is co-owner and editor in chief of the popular fan blog, Tough Pigs. Tough Pigs features blog articles, podcasts, a wiki, reviews, news, art, and anthologies for Muppet fans who grew up! This popular on-line platform receives over 25,000 unique visitors per month. Overseeing a writing staff of nine, Joe schedules and edits all published articles. Working the red carpet premier of “Muppets Most Wanted,” Joe interviewed Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Elmo, Cookie Monster, and Gonzo, among other illustrious, well-loved characters.  Joe also interviewed Paul Williams, singer and songwriter of “Rainbow Connection,” as well as visionaries including Frank Oz (Miss Piggy, Grover, Yoda) and Caroll Spinney (Big Bird, Oscar), who performed alongside Jim Henson. 

 

Joe was co-host of “The Muppet Vault,” a monthly live show out of Brooklyn, NY, featuring rare and fan-favorite Muppet clips and productions. He produced and hosted “Unboxing!”, a YouTube series with the Jim Henson Company featuring artifacts from the Henson archives. He has been interviewed by The New York Times, Al Jazeera, The Smithsonian, BBC and The Wall Street Journal as a source for Muppet related news stories. He also produced, and hosted “Fraggle Talk”, the unofficial Fraggle Rock podcast in participation with The Jim Henson Company and Apple TV.

 

Bringing his own unique version of Muppet mania to Cleveland, Joe led a master class at Nighttown on the life and legacy of Jim Henson. In addition, he introduced a special showing of “The Great Muppet Caper” at the historic Cedar Lee Theater, and facilitated a talk-back session after the show.

 

Joe is currently the Creative Development Editor for Audible, working on their line of children’s podcasts and audio stories. He oversees content for podcasts based on popular properties such as Highlights Magazine, Story Pirates and Kidzbop.

 

“Someday we’ll find it, the rainbow connection, 

the lovers, the dreamers and me.”

Simone Jelks – Class of 2004

Simone Jelk’s induction in the the Brush High School Alumni Wall of Achievement comes after living a life, that up to this point, has been defined by achievements that have required, and continue to require, both leadership and courage. As a woman, she has broken glass ceilings both locally and nationally.

 

At Brush, she is the career leader in points, steals, rebounds and free throws. She was named to Brush’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2015. In her senior year at Brush, she was awarded a full scholarship to play collegiate basketball at the University of Southern California where she earned a bachelor of science degree in health promotion and disease prevention. At USC she played college basketball and was named to the 2007-08 PAC-12-All-Defensive Team. This accomplishment was followed by earning a master’s degree in public health from Case Western Reserve University and a master’s degree in urban secondary teaching from Cleveland State University. While officiating women’s Division-1 collegiate basketball, she worked as a high school Spanish teacher at Bedford High School and Ginn Academy for six years. She went on to play professional basketball in both Croatia and Puerto Rico before she launched her refereering career.

 

The day after Thanksgiving in 2020 Simone received a life-changing phone call. She had been officiating in the NBA’s G-League for three seasons and was now being promoted to a full-time NBA referee, making her the fifth woman and only African American woman to hold that title in the league. Monty McCutchen, the NBA’s senior vice president overseeing referee development stated Simone has “demonstrated through the growth and the quality of her performance, that she warrants working NBA games on a regular basis.”

 

Simone is also an author, having published the nonfiction advice book One-On-One, which uses basketball as a framing device to advise men on dating ambitious women.

 

In an interview for the Undefeated, a sports and pop culture website owned and operated by ESPN, Simone was asked, “What advice would you give to others who want to be like you?” She responded, “Be yourself, because that’s the only person you can be. It’s not your job to make people comfortable with you. It’s your job to work hard, to be good at your job, to always realize you have room for growth, to be confident, to be strong and just be you. Don’t try to fulfill some type of stereotype. Just be you.”

 

Robert Kain – Class of 1979

Robert Kain graduated from San Diego State University with a B.S. in physics and math. He then received an MBA from Saint Mary’s College of California.

Bob is a successful entrepreneur, Biotech executive, inventor, and the architect and program manager for the sequencing instrument that broke the barrier for delivering a human genome sequence for under $1,000 in 24 hours. Bob worked at Illumina, a biotechnology company, as the VP of Engineering. He was also responsible for the new product development process and for designing and developing next generation genomic analysis systems. The systems he designed are used by 23 and Me, Ancestry DNA and other companies to provide consumer genotyping information. They are also used by academic and medical institutions to diagnose rare genetic diseases and cancer, including early onset childhood diseases that routinely save children’s lives by providing a genetic basis for their illnesses.

Bob has served on many charitable boards including the YMCA, River Parks Foundation, LaJolla Country Day Board of Trustees, and Vascula Cures. Currently semi-retired he spends his professional time advising corporations on the implementation of critical corporate processes such as annual strategic planning, product portfolio strategy, technology road mapping, and new product development. He also serves on multiple scientific advisory boards in the biotech space. He is founder, owner, and chairman of the board of the largest privately held indoor rock climbing business, Mesa Rim Climbing Center.

Bob was actually nominated for the Wall of Achievement by two separate individuals. The first individual stated, “His achievements in the scientific world speak for themselves, but he is also very generous with his time and resources both in San Diego, where he now resides, and here in Cleveland, where he grew up.” Bob and his wife set up a charitable foundation, Health Quest, to help women, children and medical research. Some of the recipients have been Rady’s Children’s Hospital, Habitat for Humanity, and cancer research. 

The second individual that nominated Bob included many documents in their nomination packet. One such document is from the SDSU Alumni group in the announcement of their 2017 Monty Awards. The Monty is a symbol of achievement and success presented to distinguished SDSU alumni who have made significant contributions nationally or internationally. The award commends Bob by stating that “with more than 40 patents issued or pending, he was an early executive at Illumina, where he helped lead the company’s evolution from a startup into a world leader in the design, development, and manufacturing of integrated systems for genomic analysis.”

Both nominations noted that Bob is first and foremost a loving husband and devoted father.

 

Barbara Roman – Class of 1968

Barbara Roman is a partner with the law firm of Meyers, Roman, Friedberg and Lewis, at which she serves as Chair of the Divorce and Family Law Group. The firm is one of the first woman-owned law firms in the country. Her areas of practice include Divorce and Family Law, Litigation, Collaborative Law, and Mediation. Prior to Myers Roman, she was a partner in another firm, Assistant Attorney General for the State of Ohio in Consumer Protection, and the managing attorney of the Cleveland UAW Legal Services office. She is a graduate of The Ohio State University and received her Juris Doctor from the Cleveland Marshall College of Law.

 

Barb has been well-recognized by the legal community in Cleveland. She was honored in 2021 by being named to the Cleveland Marshall College of Law Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame was established to honor the outstanding contributions to the success and prestige of the law school by distinguished alumni, faculty, staff and community leaders. In the same year she was elected Vice President of the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland. This organization secures justice and resolves fundamental problems by providing high quality legal services for those who are low income and vulnerable. She has been named a Super Lawyer by Inside Business for each of the past twelve years. In 2019 she was recognized as one of the Top 50 Women Lawyers in Ohio and the Top 25 Women Lawyers in Cleveland. Crain’s Cleveland Business recognized her as a “Woman of Note” in 2011, when they named her to “Who’s Who in Northeast Ohio.”  The City of Beachwood honored her by proclaiming “Barbara K. Roman Day”!

 

A feature article in Attorney at Law magazine describes Barb as “making leadership look easy. She doesn’t subscribe to the conventional top-down model, preferring collaboration and an open exchange of ideas. . .Roman has sought to involve rather than command.” In 2011, Barb was one of only a few women to be elected president of the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association.

 

Outside of work, Barb enjoys spending time with her husband and traveling.
She has visited more than 66 countries. She was raised by women who were formidable leaders long before they were allowed to be. Her grandmother came to America to escape an arranged marriage and her mother was a grandmother before she finished college and became a nurse. “I lost an aunt who was 101 years old,” Roman said. “I learned from her all along there’s always something more you can do. There’s always something you can learn; you just have to keep doing it. For me, being where I am in my career is great, but hopefully there’s still time to do more.”

 

David Nichting – Retired Brush Assistant Principal

David Nichting received a BSS and an MA from John Carroll University. He worked as a teacher, coach and counselor at parochial and public schools in the greater Cleveland area, prior to a long and successful tenure as an assistant principal at Brush High School from 1971-1997. Year after year he exemplified excellence as an administrator. Students, parents, faculty members and administrators still sing his praises. Dave knew his students well and continues to stay in touch with many of them. He and his wife Sharon remain great supporters of Brush. In his nomination, Neil Brofman states that Dave has always been a “heart and soul” member of our school community. Dr. Brofman states, “as an assistant principal, he was always there with kindness and support, yet was traditional, professional, and a strong disciplinarian. This served us well as students. We knew that we were accountable for our conduct, and we learned so much from his great example.” Dave was one of the adults that we were fortunate enough to be mentored by, disciplined by, and learn from during our years at Brush.