Retired PD staffer John Koshar

John Leo Koshar was an award-winning reporter for The Cleveland Plain Dealer, served on Munroe Falls City Council for 12 years and was one of the Founders of the Munroe Falls Historical Society. He passed away at his home on Sunday, May 20, 2007 after a long illness. Born on Dec. 9, 1923 in Danbury Township (South Lakeside), Ohio to the late John and Mary Koshar, he attended St. Joseph's grad school in Marblehead, Lakeside Public Elementary School and Danbury Township High School.

He was the editor of the High School Newspaper and the Annual Year Book. He also was very active in dramatics and was named to the Northwestern Ohio Regional Play Cast of the National Thespian Society at Heidelberg College at Tiffin in 1940. He was president of his senior class. He entered the U.S. Army in 1943 and served briefly in the Army Specialized Training Program at Arkansas State Teachers College in Jonesboro, Arkansas, then went overseas to England in 1944. As a Sergeant in the Transportation Corps, he was stationed at the base transportation office in London during the Nazi assault on the British Capital with V-l and V-2 rockets and missiles.

After his discharge from the Army in 1946, he attended Kent State University from 1947 to 1951. He was the Editor of the Daily Kent Stater, the campus newspaper, for one quarter, attacking corrupt campus politics. His campaign led to the resignation of four campus student council members. He graduated in 1951 from KSU with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.

After several months at the Fremont News-Messenger, he joined the Massillon Evening-Independent as a general reporter, later becoming chief City Hall reporter. He also was President of the Massillon Newspaper Guild and First Vice-President of the Massillon Industrial Union Council CIO. He joined The Plain Dealer's Akron news bureau in 1957, later transferring to the business desk in Cleveland. He retired in 1986 after serving two years as Real Estate Editor. Prior to his stay in Cleveland, he helped publicize numerous questionable activities of U.S. District Judge Mel G. Underwood of Columbus which led to the Judge's resignation from office in November 1965.

John Leo was named National Small Business Media Advocate for the year 1982 by the US Small Business Administration for his "outstanding reporting on small business issues and problems and on the importance of small business in the nation's economy."

John Leo was named President Emeritus and Honorary Life Member of the Historical Society on December 8, 2000 for his services to the organization. He served the Society as President for six terms and wrote the Society's Constitution and By-Laws.

He was an avid reader, owning a collection of over 1100 biographies, histories and the classics.

John Leo was a Fourth Degree member of the MSGR Joseph O'Keefe Assembly of The Knights of Columbus of Akron and a Third Degree member of Council 10936 of the Knights of Columbus of Stow/Hudson.

Besides his parents, he was preceded in death by his first wife, Patricia (Blythe), brother, Clarence, and sister, Helen. He is survived by his loving wife of 40 years, Cheryl; daughters, Michelle (John) Hujar, Mary (Jim) Jones, Pamela Mihiylov all of Akron, Ohio; sons, William, of Wooster, John of Seattle, Wash., and James of Leesburg, Va.; seven grandchildren, Nigel, Montgomery and Jocelyn Hujar, Erica (Greg) Dann and Meredith Jones, Timothy and Patrick Koshar, five great-grandchildren; sister, Rosemary of Lakeside, Ohio; and niece, Mary Elizabeth (Jerry) Kubat of Sandusky.

Mass of Christian Burial 10 a.m. Friday at St. Anthony's Church, 83 Mosser Pl., Akron. Burial will follow at Glendale Cemetery. Friends will be received from 4 to 7:30 p.m., Thursday at HENNESSY Funeral Home, (corner of York and Main) 552 N. Main St., Akron, K of C council 10936 will meet at 7 p.m. for prayers. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Anthony's Church. (HENNESSY, Family Owned, 330-376-3032.)
[The Beacon Journal,, Akron, OH, Wednesday, May 23, 2007, p. B6, col. 3]