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Chagrin Falls Alumni Association

Keeping Tiger Pride Alive

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Mark Gebler

Chagrin Falls Alumni Hall of Fame
Class of 1975

Community Service Award
Like many fathers in Chagrin Falls, Mark Gebler became involved in the youth programs of his sons (Scott ‘00, Brett ‘02, and Zak ‘05) from Indian Guides to football and wrestling. However, Mark not only took lead roles in these ventures, he continued on with them when his sons went on to high school and college. His volunteerism began with the Chagrin Valley Jaycees where he was Co-Chairman of Blossom Booths and Games from 1983-86. He was also Chairman of Blossom Time Run water stops for 14 years. His efforts were recognized in 1995 with the Chagrin Valley Jaycees Distinguished Service Award as the Outstanding Jaycee. From 1989-93 he was Nation Chief for the Geauga County YMCA Indian Guides. His duties included promoting, organizing events, including field trips for approximately 225 youth members and their fathers. His efforts were also felt in the Chagrin Athletic Association. During the 1990s, Mark was the Head Wrestling Coach and Commissioner of Wrestling building the program from 16 wrestlers to 61. Additionally, he was a Head Football Coach in CAA at this time. He would later volunteer as a football coach on the CFMS staff for 12 seasons. Further, he has continued to volunteer as the Head Statistician for the CFHS Varsity Football Team, a role he began in 1997. Mark had a 36 year career in the postal service with 10 years as the Postmaster of Chagrin Falls. A highlight from his career was overseeing the naming of the Chagrin Falls Post Office to the Sgt. Michael M. Kashkoush Post Office Building. Michael Kashkoush ‘01 died while in combat in Iraq, while serving in the U.S. Marines. Mark continues to volunteer in a number of roles in Chagrin today with his wife Debi Shukys Gebler ‘75.

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Wendy Diamond

Chagrin Falls Alumni Hall of Fame
Class of 1988

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.

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TOM ANDERSON

Chagrin Falls Alumni Hall of Fame
Class of 1966

Tom has had an award winning career as an independent recording engineer, producer, & studio design consultant. After graduating from the University of Denver, Tom went to the Bay area as a musician and in the role of production engineer and assistant engineer. He has worked in primarily all the music genres in his career from jazz, rock, funk/soul, blues, pop, folk, world, & country. During his illustrious career he was in high demand by the top record labels like Warner Bros. and A & M Records. His work has been nominated for 3 Grammy Awards and earned multiple Recording Industry Association of America Gold and Platinum Album awards. Tom has been an engineer on albums for many bands and individual singers including The Allman Brothers, America, Hoyt Axton, The Blackbyrds, Alice Cooper, David Crosby, Pablo Cruise, Alex DeGrassi, The Eagles, Dan Fogelberg, Jerry Garcia Band, The Grateful Dead, John Lee Hooker, The Marshall Tucker Band, Steve Martin, Paul McCartney and Wings, Buddy Miles, Van Morrison, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Poco, REO Speedwagon, The Rolling Stones, Sly and the Family Stone, Rick Springfield, Supertramp, Stephen Stills, Joe Walsh, & Steven Wright. He has also recorded such artists as Jimmy Cliff, Bing Crosby, Buddy Miles, Jimmy Page, Gary Puckett, & Tommy Smothers. A few years ago Tom would relocate back to Chagrin Falls where he runs T A Audio, a sound engineering firm and is a college instructor in the fields of audio engineering, production techniques, sound for film and sound design.

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David Kravitz

Chagrin Falls Alumni Hall of Fame
Class of 1975

David Kravitz is an entrepreneur and inventor who has served in various senior executive, directorship, and advisory positions throughout his career in the life sciences. For over 20 years, his focus has been in the fields of trauma and transplantation medicine, women’s reproductive health, therapeutics adherence, and regenerative medicine. David is a co-inventor of several dozen medical technology patents and is a founder of numerous med tech companies, including Organ Recovery Systems, where he served as Chairman and CEO. In 2004, he was named to Fast Company magazine’s “Fast 50” list of global entrepreneurs/innovators. He presently serves as CEO of Lifeline Scientific, Inc., a company that he co-founded. David has extensive background in mergers and acquisitions, has led companies through international, public, and private institutional financings. Additionally, he has led the development, regulatory approvals, and launches of several global medical technologies, including the market leading LifePort family of solid organ recovery and transport systems. LifePort is a standard of care in clinical transplantation worldwide and has been prominently recognized for its industrial design and engineering. His accomplishments include design excellence awards from the Medical Device and Diagnostic Industry (MDEA Critical Care/Emergency Products category), an exhibition at the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, Popular Science Magazine’s breakthrough technology BOWN Award, and selection into the permanent Collection of The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City. David’s medical technology developments in transplantation have been widely studied and published in leading peer reviewed scientific journals including the New England Journal of Medicine. Throughout his career, he has remained active in early childhood education, having founded a Montessori-based preschool in his local community. Also, he is a publisher of books, innovative products, and curriculum in the field of early childhood literacy. David presently serves on the board of directors of several companies in the life sciences.

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Dr. Christine Schomisch Moravec

Chagrin Falls Alumni Hall of Fame
Class of 1975

Dr. Christine Schomisch Moravec is a Staff Research Scientist and Director of Basic Research in the Kaufman Center for Heart Failure at the Cleveland Clinic. Christine is also one of three Associate Directors of the Bakken Heart-Brain Institute and holds secondary appointments in the Department of Molecular Cardiology and the Center for Integrative Medicine. Her specialty interests include heart failure, cellular malfunction in cardiac dysfunction, drugs that may improve contractility of the failing heart, and remodeling of the failing heart using both surgical and psychophysiologic interventions. Dr. Moravec also runs the human heart tissue bank at the Clinic. Christine was named an Established Investigator of the American Heart Association. In addition to her research work, she holds academic appointments at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and at Cleveland State University. Christine serves as Chair of Graduate Studies within the Lerner Research Institute and as President of the Board of Directors of the Northeastern Ohio Science and Engineering Fair, a regional science fair held each spring for 600 students from the Cleveland area. Widely published in peer-reviewed scientific journals such as the Journal of Biological Chemistry, Circulation,Circulation Research, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and the Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology, Dr. Moravec has authored numerous journal articles and abstracts describing work in her laboratory. She serves as a reviewer for scientific journals including Circulation, Circulation Research, the American Journal of Physiology, Cardiovascular Research, the Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology and the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, and is a member of local and national AHA peer-review study sections. Dr. Moravec has been invited to present her research at national and international meetings and conferences. Christine has also earned the Outstanding Educator Award from the Lerner Research Institute at the Cleveland Clinic.

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Scott Lax

Chagrin Falls Alumni Hall of Fame
Class of 1970

Scott has had a rich career as an award-winning writer, novelist, a produced playwright, an essayist, columnist and features writer, educator, and a film and television writer. Before he became a full-time writer and educator, Scott was a salesman, as well as a professional drummer who drummed with Bo Diddley, among many other musicians. Scott has authored two novels, “The Year That Trembled” and “Vengeance Follows,.” both of which take place in a fictional version of Chagrin Falls. The former was named Vermont Book of the Year, Runner-Up & one of 1998’s “Milestones in Fiction” by the Denver Post. He would later be a source-writer and producer of a feature film based on “The Year That Trembled.” Scott would go on to earn four first-place international film festival awards for his role in the film, including the 2002 Midwest Filmmaker of the Year from the Cleveland International Film Festival.. His adaptation of his novel was produced as a stage play twice at Cleveland’s University School, in 2003 and 2013. His college alma mater, Hiram College, where he delivered the commencement address in 2001, named him along with thirteen others as their “Most Illustrious Alumni.” He has also been recognized as the 1992 Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference Bernard J. O’Keefe Scholar in Nonfiction and the 1998 Sewanee Writers Conference Walter E. Dakin Fellow in Fiction. “Vengeance Follows” was called “a minor masterpiece of suspense and human nature by The Midwest Book Review, who also called Scott, “A master wordsmith of the first order.” Scott has also earned awards from the Ohio Professional Writers Communication Contest and the Ohio Excellence in Journalism. Currently, he is on the liberal arts faculty at the Cleveland Institute of Art, where he teaches screenwriting. Scott recently wrote a feature for ESPN on the Cavaliers 2016 NBA Championship, which ran on SportsCenter the day after the final victory.

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William “Skip” Church

Chagrin Falls Alumni Hall of Fame
Class of 1971

Skip has had a prolific career both in front of and behind the television camera. While still attending Western Kentucky University, he became the youngest sports director of a commercial television station in the country at age 20. (WBKO-TV) He would go on to be a sports anchor, producer, and feature reporter. Skip has been honored with two Emmy Awards, five Emmy nominations, and the Associated Press Sports Feature of the Year. For the past two decades he has overseen his video production company, Skip Church Enterprises. He produces a wide range of programs from national documentaries to corporate videos, with many of his video productions winning a Telly award, an honor for the very best film & video productions. A significant part of Skip’s life has been with giving back. He has served on the Board of Directors in Connecticut for both the Special Olympics & United Way. Skip even hosted the first-ever live televised Special Olympics Event. His civic duty is most notably recognized in regards to drinking and driving due in part to his youngest son Dustin bing killed by a drunk driver in 2004. Skip drafted and promoted the passage of legislation that strengthens drunk driving laws by requiring convicted drunk drivers to use an ignition interlock device that prohibits engine starts for those that are impaired. In the first two and a half years of the program, those devices have prohibited engine starts more than 105,000 times, which averages to 115 less impaired drivers on a daily basis. Skip and his wife Colleen, who is the National President for Mothers Against Drunk Driving, also created a summer day camp for children in honor of their son, called Dustin’s Place.

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Jonathan Engel

Chagrin Falls Alumni Hall of Fame
Class of 1973

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).

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Tim Swan

Chagrin Falls Alumni Hall of Fame
Class of 1975

Tim has been a leader in commercial real estate in Denver, Colorado for over 30 years with over $7.5 billion in transactions covering more than 34 million square feet. Early in his career he held the roles of President of The Denver Solar Energy Association & Partner at East-West Energy Co. (Denver, Colorado). Before recently retiring, Tim was Managing Director, CBRE Capital Markets Group, Colorado Region. Tim closed more than $1.37 billion in sales volume in 2007, including the Blackstone Denver CBD Office Portfolio for $770 million. This portfolio sale surpassed the highest recorded commercial transaction in Denver’s history by a factor of three. His success was noted with being honored with Commercial Real Estate Association Denver Chapter’s “Investment Broker of the Year Award” on three separate occasions. Tim also received the “Heavy Hitter” Award from the Denver Commercial Real Estate Association multiple times. Outside of real estate, he has been an avid volunteer for such groups as National Association of Office & Industrial Parks, Project Healing Waters, Colorado Association for Viticulture & Enology, the Denver International School, & The Cultural Food Guild. What has given Tim the most pleasure is mentoring young people, whether they are just starting in their careers or are high school students in maximizing their potential.

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Dr. James Thobaben

Chagrin Falls Alumni Hall of Fame
Class of 1974

Dr. James Thobaben is a professor and Dean of the School of Theology and Formation at Asbury Theological Seminary, one of the largest such institutions in the U.S. In addition, he currently oversees Institutional Effectiveness and Assessment, managing the decanal accreditation process for the institution. His academic fields are bioethics, social ethics, and sociology of religion. His special research interests include disability issues (especially traumatic brain injury related), social benefit from and concern with genetically-modified non-human organisms, the spiritual and cultural meaning of pilgrimage, ecclesial architecture, and rural life. As well as working full-time at Asbury, he serves as the pastor of a small, rural church, is a part-time professor in the University of Kentucky, College of Public Health, an adjunct professor at Trinity International University, and operates a small tree farm. Dr. Thobaben was Visiting Ethics Scholar in Molecular Biology at the University of Missouri. He is the recipient of several teaching grants for instruction on American rural life. His work, Healthcare Ethics: A Comprehensive Christian Resource, is used as a primary bioethics text in several graduate programs across the U.S. For both academic and spiritual reasons, Dr. Thobaben has twice walked the Camino de Santiago de Compostela and several of the long pilgrimage routes in Great Britain. Prior to assuming his current position, he was vice-president of a physical rehabilitation facility centered on the treatment of those with traumatic brain injuries and spinal cord injuries. His academic degrees are from Oberlin, Yale, and Emory.

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STEPHEN WU

Class of 1981

Steve is a pioneer in secure electronic commerce law and information security law and may be our country’s leading “legal futurist.” Steve serves as Chair of the American Bar Association Section of Science and Technology Law. He was the second in-house lawyer at Internet security giant VeriSign, Inc before he was a founding partner in the Silicon Valley law firm Cooke Kobrick & Wu LLP. Steve wrote or co-wrote five books on secure electronic commerce, data security, and the law. He has become one of the world’s leading practitioner in the area of the 3D Internet – virtual worlds and online video games. Additionally, he is the worldwide head of the legal team, CrisisCommons, which is an international effort to create online tools for assisting responders and victims of the earthquake in Haiti and other disaster relief. Steve also enjoys being a scoutmaster and Sunday school teacher.

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LEE UNKRICH

Chagrin Falls Alumni Hall of Fame
Class of 1985

Lee has been a longtime member of the core creative team at Pixar Animation Studios. Recently Lee was Director of Disney/Pixar’s critical and commercial hit film, Toy Story 3. Before this movie, he has been Co-director on Finding Nemo; Monsters, Inc.; and Toy Story 2. His work on Finding Nemo earned Lee and his co-director an Academy Award in 2003 for Best Animated Feature Film. He also received a Golden Globe in 1999 for Toy Story 2 in the Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy category. Lee was recently been honored with the Venice Film Festival Golden Lion Lifetime Achievement Award and co-Shared an Annie Award from the International Animated Film Society for Outstanding Directing in an Animated Feature Production.

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STEPHEN THOMAS

Chagrin Falls Alumni Hall of Fame
Class of 1965

2010 CFAA Chagrin Falls Community Service Award

Steve has been able to participate and preside over the formation of three civic organizations that help enrich the Chagrin Falls Schools and community – Chagrin Falls Education Foundation, Downtown Chagrin Falls and the Chagrin Foundation for Arts & Culture. He has held the position of President in all three of these organizations as well as serving as treasurer of the Federated Church and was a long-time trustee for Chagrin Falls Township. Steve’s professional career has been as a trial attorney and general legal practitioner, with an emphasis on professional negligence. He has argued over 60 cases before Ohio and federal appellate courts, including three appearances before the Ohio Supreme Court. At least ten of these cases have established new legal principles.

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Pat Crain Hosmer

Chagrin Falls Alumni Hall of Fame
Class of 1945

Community Service Award
Pat is the true epitome of community service, which has been exemplified over decades in Geauga County. She has been a volunteer for over 36 years to the Geauga County Historical Society and Century Village. On a weekly basis you can find her helping at University Hospital and at various locations in the Geauga Parks. She also finds time to write on local history and patriotism regularly for the Chagrin Valley Women’s Club and the Geauga County Historical Society. Additionally, Pat has spent over three decades writing letters for the release of prisoners of conscience to various Heads of State in other countries. In the past she has held various leadership roles such as Chairwoman of the CVWC Educational Gift Fund and President of Century Village. She has also lent her sewing talent by knitting over 5,000 pairs of mittens to the Maydugan Center for distribution.

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Jack Buchanan

Chagrin Falls Alumni Hall of Fame
Class of 1945

Jack has maintained a passion for preserving and sharing history in each of his careers. He started as a high school history teacher in Newark Valley, New York. He would move on to being an archivist and historical librarian that would take him from Cornell University to New York City. The bulk of his career was at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. During his twenty-seven years at the Met, Jack primarily held the role of Chief Registrar, where he oversaw worldwide art movements. Concurrently with his job as Chief Registrar, he was Special Assistant to the Director and later Special Assistant to the President. Jack’s retirement from the museum has led to a writing career. Currently he has authored three books on early American history, two on the Revolutionary War and one on Andrew Jackson. All of the books are required readings at select universities. One book, The Road to Valley Forge, won the Thomas Fleming Award for Best Book of 2004 from the American Revolution Round Table of Philadelphia. Jack has also published short stories, and in 2010 his first novel, The Rise of Stefan Gregorovic.

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If you have an updated address, phone number, or email, then please include that in the message area below.

    Contact Info:

    alumni@chagrinschools.org

    440.247.4387

     


    CFAA Alumni Director:

    Brian McKenna '88

    Office Manager:

    Jana Young ‘82

    Find Us:

    Chagrin Falls Alumni Association

    400 East Washington Street
    Chagrin Falls, OH 44022

    We invite you to join the growing numbers of volunteers who are helping to ensure a bright future for the CFAA and Chagrin Falls Schools. Whether it is through your time or resources, all of us appreciate your generous gifts. To become more involved, contact the Alumni Association. We look forward to your comments, questions, and suggestions. Don’t forget that we appreciate your help in making the CFAA run successfully with the donation of your annual dues of $20 or more.