Paul enjoyed a 51 year career with TRW with the last 25 of those years working as the Design Engineering Manager. His engineering experience in nuclear and aerospace industries focused primarily on product development. His concentration was exclusively on control rod drive mechanisms for both naval and commercial applications. Paul was at the forefront of being a “super-user” for CAD designs, Finite Element structural evaluations and computer usage in general. During his early years with TRW he worked on various Aerospace projects including designing an auxiliary power unit for NASA’s Lunar Excursion Module (Lunar Lander). He had many interesting trips to study the interface of the power unit with the actual Lunar Module hardware, including a visit to Mission Control at NASA Houston and Grumman Aircraft. It was a real experience actually for Paul to climb around on Lunar Modules that would ultimately land on the Moon. For most of his career, he worked on the design of Nuclear reactor control systems, mostly for the Navy nuclear fleet. He prepared thousands of pages of technical reports with detailed design and analysis studies. His intricate designs and manufactured products are still used today in every Naval Nuclear submarine, destroyer and aircraft carrier. Paul has seven patents to his name on the mPower Modular Reactor project.
RICHARD W. EVANS
Owner of Evans Printing Company for 26 years, Dick’s talents and altruistic endeavors have been duly recognized by the communities in which he lived and worked. In 1968, he received the Distinguished Service Award from the Chagrin Valley Jaycees. Sun Newspapers selected him as “Citizen of the Year” for Solon in 1992, the same year he was named to the Solon Chamber of Commerce Hall of Fame. Numerous paper companies have presented him awards of excellence in printed communication. Dick was president of the Chagrin Valley Chamber of Commerce in 1967 and in 1994. He is a life member of several local organizations including the Chagrin Valley Little Theatre, Valley Art Center and the Chagrin Falls Historical Society.
Wendy Diamond
Wendy Diamond is a Social Entrepreneur, Humanitarian, Endangered Animal and Rescue Advocate, World’s Premiere Pet Lifestyle expert, Best-Selling Author, and TV Personality. She is heralded and recognized as a pioneer in the animal world; dubbed “Martha Stewart of the Milk Bone Dish” by The New Yorker, and crowned the “Canine Queen” by Forbes. She founded Animal Fair Media with a specific mission to save disenfranchised animals in shelters, and endangered wildlife globally, by promoting animal welfare and rescue, healthy pet lifestyles, and responsible breeding. Since its beginning, the number of animals euthanized annually has dropped by 58 percent, from 12 million to 4 million. Wendy has authored several best-selling books including: Chicken Soup for the Soul: What I Learned from the Dog, What I Learned from the Cat, My Cat’s Life, My Dog’s Life, How to Understand Men Through Their Dogs, How to Understand Women Through Their Cats and It’s a Dog’s World: The Savvy Guide to Four-Legged Living; A Musical Feast and All Star Feast. With the help of Lucky, her first adopted dog, and Baby Hope the second one, Wendy holds 3 Guinness World Records. Lucky Diamond is The Animal Photographed with the Most Celebrities with 363 celebrities. Baby Hope had the most expensive pet wedding in history raising money for a wing at the Humane Society of New York. Wendy herself received a Guinness for the longest curtsey relay in 5 minutes of 314 curtsies. Recently she launched Women’s Entrepreneurship Day (WED) at the United Nations in 144 countries, which is a day to celebrate, support and empower women entrepreneurs and women owned businesses globally. Wendy has received countless honors and titles including the 2016 Ellis Island Medal of Honor, Grand Marshal of Barkus, & Chairwoman of the Katrina Pet Memorial. She also serves on the Board of Advisors for the United Nations Millennium Development Goal Achievers, Grey Muzzle Foundation, Social Innovation Forum/United Nations and World Entrepreneurship Day.
Jonathan Engel
Jonathan has been fortunate to pursue two careers unified by a single passion — to promote informed decision-making in a complex world. He began as a journalist for several respected news organizations, working in the 1970s and 1980s for the Des Moines Register in Iowa, Reuters and Dow Jones in London and the International Herald Tribune in Paris. At Reuters in the 1990s, he served in several senior editorial posts, including Global Editor at Reuters Television, the first worldwide TV network dedicated to market-moving financial news. He also helped integrate traditionally separate news units in the new position of Manager of Multimedia News Production. As news organizations and other information providers embraced digital production, media consumers struggled to cope with floods of easily published but poorly defined content. Information overload became a common complaint. Jonathan helped pioneer new techniques for organizing, classifying and linking information for more effective Web-based search, navigation and delivery. Eventually, he set up his own information architecture consultancy in 2003, InfoArk Ltd., to assist a variety of organizations, including global companies, UK government agencies and influential charities. He has worked for Unilever, Cambridge University, Times Newspapers, the National Health Service, Oxfam International and children’s charity Barnardo’s. Additionally, he has been a member of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers & Commerce (RSA).
Keith DeGreen
Keith has had an illustrious career in investment advising. He built up DeGreen Wealth Management, which he sold in 2006 with $640,000,000 of assets under management. After flunking retirement, he took a three year world-wide sabbatical. Keith then developed a portfolio management program and has pioneered world-wide market and sector investing through the growing universe of low-cost, U.S. traded, exchange traded funds (ETFs) with DeGreen Capital Management. He has authored The Emerging Markets Book, now in its second printing. Keith also hosts Arizona’s most popular personal finance show, which is now in its 21st year. After high school, Keith would receive the Purple Heart in Vietnam and attained the rank of Sergeant with the United States Marines. Additionally, he was Arizona’s Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in 1988 and was a candidate for Governor in 2005 but withdrew due to a family illness. Besides holding a Certified Financial Planner license, Keith earned a law degree when he returned from Vietnam.
THE HONORABLE DAVID L. FUHRY
Judge Fuhry is an accomplished attorney who has combined his law practice with a long history of service to the community. Dave graduated Summa Cum Laude from Kent State University in 1974 and the Ohio State University College of Law, Juris Doctorate in 1977. For 18 years he taught business law courses for KSU. In 1985 he was elected a Parkman Township Trustee and appointed Magistrate of the Chardon Municipal Court-à position he held for 20 years. He has served as President and Treasurer of the Geauga County Bar Association, as well as numerous other community organizations. He initiated the Geauga County Settlement Day in 1988 aimed at resolving legal disputes by mediation prior to protracted litigation. The program continues to this day with the cooperation of the County’s judges. He presently is serving a 6-year term as Judge of the Geauga County Common Pleas Court. David has been married to Mary Lou since 1980. Their four children: Louise Ann, David, Stephen and Martin range in age from 17 – 24. Dave enjoys bicycling, local and American history, raising fancy poultry, hunting and fishing.
RICHARD A. D’ARDENNE
Following his graduation from Purdue in 1980, with a degree in Chemical Engineering, Richard took a job with Phillips 66 Company in Pasadena, Texas. His 26-year career with Phillips, now ConocoPhillips has taken him around the world and placed him in charge of several billion-dollar projects. As a vice president he is currently heading the future capital projects program in Australia and the Timor. The venture centers on liquefied natural gas, which is an alternative to using gas pipelines and has been a new focus for the energy giant ConocoPhillips. From 1999-2004 he was the project and construction manager for a $1.3 billion dollar contract executed in Venezuela that employed a labor workforce of over 7000 people. While in Venezuela, he served as president of the school board at an international school in Puerto La Cruz. Despite his travels, Richard has remained active, including holding the positions of deacon at his church and president of his community association in Houston. While in Chagrin, he lettered in cross-country and track, and was awarded the Bausch & Lomb Science Award. Richard fondly remembers Skip Riegel his scoutmaster and former Sands Elementary principal. Under Mr. Riegel’s leadership he went on to earn his Eagle Scout rank and then work as a scout camp counselor for five summers in high school and college. Richard also enjoyed the time he spent in four years of high school musicals working under Harold Loesch and Molly Macknin. He credits the Chagrin Falls School System and Purdue University for providing him with a solid educational foundation. Richard relies upon his faith to persevere through the difficult times. He is grateful to his wife Paula of 23 years and their three great kids; Ben, Sarah and Jordan for their support. In his free time Richard enjoys golf, although not a golfer, travel, hunting, fishing and reading.
ALLISON ENGEL
Allison’s career in journalism started as co-editor of the 1969 Zenith and has taken her around the country and brought her many accolades. She graduated with honors with a degree in journalism from Iowa State University in 1973. She has served as a newspaper reporter, magazine editor and freelance writer. Her work has been published in the Washington Post, LA Times, NY Times, Wall Street Journal, Esquire and Saveur, among other publications. Her work at the San Jose (CA) Mercury resulted in a Knight Journalism Fellowship at Stanford University. She co-authored with her twin sister Peggy “Food Finds: America’s Best Local Foods and the People Who Make Them.” This led to interviews on the Larry King Show, CNN, The Today Show, etc. The book was sold seven years ago to the Food Network resulting in the TV show that currently airs. In 1996 she was awarded an endowed chair at Iowa State University, and in 2002, was given an unprecedented second endowed chair. Allison was the speechwriter and aide for the Governor and Lt. Governor of Iowa, before moving to California in 2000. Last year, she joined the Communications Department of the University of Southern California as the senior writer/editor, and was named USC’s Faculty/Staff Mentor of the Year. She joins her sister Peggy in the CFAA Achievement Hall of Fame. Allison and her husband Scott Kirkpatrick have been married for 33 years. They have two children, Miles, a college graduate and golf professional and Nora, who majored in acting at UCLA. They have always had many cats and dogs, but are currently down to one ungrateful cat, Checkers, who rules the house. Allison’s interests include: architecture with an emphasis on vintage commercial buildings, old neon and diner signs, as well as quilts and textiles.
CAPTAIN DAVID INGRAHAM DRAZ, USN, (RET.)
Captain David Ingraham Draz’s leadership skills were first recognized when he served as the President of the Class of 1944. They have served him well during his military career. He enlisted in the Navy in 1944 and traveled the world while on active duty for 33 years. He became one of the few active duty officers to be qualified in submarines and as a naval aviator, known as Wings and Dolphins. He spent 14 years operating from aircraft carriers. Capt. Draz served in three wars and was honored with numerous awards and medals, among them the Order of the Legion of Merit and Navy Commendation Medal. From 1970-1973 he was the U.S. Naval Attaché in Karachi, Pakistan. After retiring from the Navy in 1977, Capt. Draz started his second career working for Hallmark Cards, Inc., retiring in 1991.
BILL DARLIN
After graduating from Chagrin Falls High School, Bill joined the Air Force, finishing as a staff/sergeant and Radar Crew Chief. He was graduated from Miami University (Ohio) in 1956. Recently retired after 37 years in the insurance business, his life’s work is far from over. Each summer Bill serves as an English teacher in China. He is deck officer for Spirit of Grace, a 2000 ton humanitarian freighter which carries food and medicine to third world countries. He also smuggles bibles into China, Russia, Cuba and Macau. For the past seven years, he has been Director of World Missions for St. John’s Lutheran Church in Orange, California.
WALTER H. ETTINGER, JR.
Walt Ettinger’s climb to the top of the medical profession is replete with accomplishments. A graduate of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1978, he has taught at Wake Forest University School of Medicine since 1985. He has more than 100 of his articles and reviews published. His three books include “Fitness After 50: It’s Never too Late to Start,” published in 1996. Twice he has been listed in “The Best Doctors in America” (Geriatric Medicine), in 1994 and 1996. In 1993, he received the Henry Christian Memorial Award for outstanding abstract in aging research. Currently, Dr. Ettinger is Director at the J. Paul Sticht Center on Aging at the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.
JERALD A. FINCH
Stringing for The Exponent for a buck a story during high school was just the beginning of an outstanding career in journalism for Jerry Finch. Today, he is ombudsman and senior editor of the Richmond-Times Dispatch, Virginia’s largest newspaper in circulation. He joined the paper in 1955 as a copy editor, eventually becoming managing editor, a title which he held for 20 years. In 1995, he received the George Mason Award of the Society of Professional Journalists for his outstanding contributions to Virginia journalism. In 1993, he was awarded the Isaiah Thomas Newspaper Preservation Prize of the American Society of Newspaper Editors. Jerry was graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1950 with a degree in journalism. There, he was the first president of what was to become the Sigma Delta Chi journalism honorary society. During World War II, he served overseas in the U.S. Army Air Forces.
MARGARET ENGEL
The breadth, depth, and sheer quality of Peggy Engel’s literary works were recognized long before this former majorette marched to Washington. A 1973 honors graduate of the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism, she won several awards for investigative reporting for the Lorain (Ohio) Journal and the Des Moines Register. She was the youngest person to win a Nieman Fellowship to Harvard Univand ersity, where she studied law and occupational health at Harvard Law School, Harvard Medical School, and M. I. T. In 1981, Peggy joined the Washington Post, where she was a reporter and editor. Her work was nominated four times for a Pulitzer Prize. An adjunct journalism professor at Georgetown University, she has been published in magazines such as Esquire, Ladies Home Journal, and Glamour. She has appeared on the Today Show Larry King, As the executive director of the Alicia Patterson Foundation, she guides a program that awards fellowships to some of the country’s best reporters, editors, and photographers. Among her books is “Ballpark Vacations,” a guide to America’s exceptional baseball parks. Her investigative reporting for this project included her husband, two children, 25,000 miles, and nearly 100 major and minor league ballparks.
ROBERT PAUL DYE
Moving from Cleveland’s innercity to Chagrin Falls changed Bob Dye’s life. And nowhere were the changes more apparent than in school. By the time he was graduated form CFHS, he had been editor of the Echo school newspaper and assistant editor of the Zenith yearbook. After earning an M. A. in English from Western Michigan University in 1958, Bob embarked on a career in communications which would render him several prestigious awards for his accomplishments. A life member of the Hawaiian Historical Society, he has written three books and has three others in progress. For his 1996 effort, “Hawaii Chronicles: Island History from the pages of Honolulu Magazine,” he received an award from the Hawaii Book Publishers. His publication was also nominated for the Kamakau Award, for the best book of the year. Bob has written numerous articles and reviews for various newspapers and magazines. He is a contributing political editor to Honolulu Magazine and has been a political and election night commentator for KHNC-TV in Honolulu. In business, he is director of University Health Care Associates also in Honolulu.
DAVID J. FARRIS
David Farris traces his success to the supportive atmosphere of the Chagrin Falls School System. Much involved in athletics and drama during his years at CFHS, his successes have reached dramatic proportions. Since 1987, he has been Chief Operating Officer of Beneficial Corporation, a $15 billion, New York Stock Exchange-listed financial services holding company. He is also President and Chief Executive Officer of Beneficial Management Corporation, a subsidiary. Subsidiaries of the company provide financial services through their various consumer-finance, banking, and insurance operations located throughout the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany and Ireland. A graduate of the Advanced Management Program of the Harvard Graduate School of Business, he is a director and past president of the National Home Equity Mortgage Association. He is a chairman of the New Jersey Ballet Company, and also chairman and a trustee of CHEMcare, a Westfield, N.J. support group for cancer patients undergoing radiation and chemotherapy treatment. After being graduated from CFHS, David stayed close to home for a while. He earned his undergraduate degree in business from Kent State University, and he was president of the Chagrin Valley Jaycees. He is currently a member of the board of directors of Kent State University Foundation.