[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 54 (Tuesday, May 5, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E768]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                     IN MEMORY OF MARY STRASSMEYER

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. DENNIS J. KUCINICH

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                          Tuesday, May 5, 1998

  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of an 
exceptional figure in the Cleveland media for nearly forty years, Mary 
Strassmeyer. Ms. Strassmeyer prided herself on her journalistic talent 
and her insight into the Cleveland social scene.
  As a native of the Old Brooklyn section of Cleveland, Ms. Strassmeyer 
lived on the same street where she was raised for most of her life. 
Devoted to the Greater Cleveland area, she attended Notre Dame College 
in South Euclid, majoring in English and history. Ms. Strassmeyer began 
her journalistic career in 1956 at the Cleveland News as a reporter. 
After the paper dissolved in 1960, she joined the Cleveland Plain 
Dealer, a place she called home for over thirty years.
  At first, Ms. Strassmeyer wrote travel pieces for the Plain Dealer 
and served as beauty editor. She was named Society Editor in 1965. She 
helped to develop a nationally-syndicated cartoon during this time and 
wrote articles on teen beauty. Ms. Strassmeyer created her famous 
social column in 1976 entitled ``Today'' which was later called ``Mary, 
Mary.'' She also worked in broadcasting in the early 1980's with shows 
on radio and television, and received a law degree from the Cleveland-
Marshall College of Law in 1981. She retired in 1997 and began to 
devote her time to her law practice and her travel agency.
  My fellow colleagues, join me in saluting the life of a journalistic 
paragon, a woman who understood the social structure of Cleveland 
society: Mary Strassmeyer.

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