George Voinovich, an earnest-looking Collinwood boy who grew up to be an Ohio legislator, Cleveland mayor, Ohio governor, U.S. senator and one of the most popular Buckeye State politicians of his generation, died early Sunday.
He was 79.
His son, George, said his father died peacefully in his sleep.
“His two main things in life were public service and his family,” the younger George Voinovich said by telephone. “He genuinely cared about his fellow man. Despite his political success, he never let it go to his head.”
His death comes weeks before his 80th birthday and a Republican National Convention that his home city will host. Voinovich had been listed as a second choice for Ohio delegates committed to Gov. John Kasich in this year’s presidential race — a sign of respect for one of the most successful politicians in state history.
Friends said Voinovich kept an active schedule in his final days, including a speech Friday at Cleveland City Hall to commemorate Slovenian Independence Day. (You can see video of that speech here.)
“I think he’ll always be remembered for his compassionate leadership, his bipartisan approach and his ongoing stubborn commitment to fiscal responsibility,” Curt Steiner, who was among Voinovich’s top political advisers, said Sunday. “He lived in a fiscally responsible manner and he led in a fiscally responsible manner. I can’t think of anybody who can match the record.”
Voinovich, a lawyer and one-time assistant state attorney general who spent more than four decades in politics, was credited with restoring financial health to Cleveland after the city went into default under his mayoral predecessor. A plainspoken man with a disarming grin and support from the city’s business establishment, he helped ignite the downtown building boom of the 1980s that would give Cleveland the moniker “Comeback City.”
As governor, he balanced another difficult set of books by making choices that pleased neither his critics on the left – for cuts in child day care and flat spending on school busing for desegregation – and on the right, for advocating tax increases.
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