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George E. Condon George E. Condon, journalist, author and historian, is a native of Fall River, Mass., sharing that distinction with Lizzie Borden, whose name, of course, is a prominent one in American crime annals. As a Plain Dealer reporter and historian, George has written about his adopted home for many years. In 1983 George V. Voinovich, mayor of Cleveland, issued a proclamation praising Condon as a "distinguished Clevelander and gentleman journalist." Cleveland has embraced George as one of its own. He now resides here in Lakewood and we are glad to have him. George, youngest of the brood at age 6, attended St. Patrick's grade school and West Technical High School, then went on to the Ohio State University School of Journalism, where he met and married a coed from Springfield, Ohio, Marjorie Philona Smith. They were wed in 1942 and lived briefly in Columbus before moving to Lakewood in 1943 when Condon joined the staff of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. He started off as a general assignment reporter, until he became the Plain Dealer’s first TV columnist five years later. After working as TV and Radio critic from 1948-1962, George secured a position as an op-ed columnist. Condon worked as op-ed columnist for over twenty years, writing a daily column, from 1962 to 1985. It constituted a major part of his lifetime as a journalist during which he graced us with his charming Irish wit and satirical humor every day of the week for four decades. Along with his journalistic achievements, Condon found time to write seven books, including three histories of Cleveland. The first-- a Doubleday best seller being "Cleveland: The Best-Kept Secret," Condon chronicles the rivalry between Cleveland and Ohio City. It was followed by "Yesterday's Cleveland," and "Cleveland, Prodigy of the Western Reserve." His most recent book is "Gaels of Laughter and Tears," in which he has compiled an amusing collection of the hundreds of Irish nicknames he discovered in Cleveland and Lakewood. At Lakewood Public Library you can check out one of George’s books, our collection includes: "Cleveland: Prodigy of the Western Reserve," "Cleveland; The Best Kept Secret," "Gaels of Laughter and Tears," "History of Ohio Farmers Insurance Company," "The Man in the Arena: the life & times of A.C. Sutphin," "Stars in the Water; the story of the Erie Canal," "Yesterday's Cleveland," "Yesterday's Columbus: a pictorial history of Ohio's capital." Awards and honors received by George include: Cleveland Press Club award for professional excellence, the 15"* annual Cleveland Arts Prize for Literature by the Cleveland Women's City Club, the Ohioiana Book Award of 1975, the Emily Gray Burke Memorial Award, and the Distinguished Service Award of the National Society of Professional Journalists (formerly Sigma Delta Chi journalism fraternity). In recent years, two of Condon's children have followed in his journalistic footsteps with similar distinction. Susan Condon Love of Lakewood has had an outstanding career at the Plain Dealer, where she currently is the newspaper's homes editor. A son, George E. Condon, Jr. formerly of Lakewood, is a former Plain Dealer political writer, who has covered the White House and Washington affairs for about 20 years for the Copley Newspaper Chain of San Diego, Cal. And in that time served a term as president of the White House Correspondents Association. You can read more about George E. Condon at http://www.clevelandartsprize.org/lit_1975.htm where he is honored as the 1975 literature winner for the Cleveland Arts Prize.
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