Stanley E. Tolliver Sr., 1953 (1926–2011) Stanley Tolliver was involved in numerous significant social reform campaigns from the middle of the 20th century until his death. In 1965, he traveled to Mississippi to represent civil rights protestors. Locally, he accused police and prosecutors of misconduct while representing the Glenville riot defendants, college students involved in the fatal 1970 Kent State demonstration, and the organizers of a McDonalds boycott protesting the absence of black franchise owners. A member of the Cleveland Board of Education for 12 years, he participated in efforts to desegregate the schools and introduce Black Studies into the curriculum. Tolliver was a trustee of the Antioch Baptist Church, president of the Norman Minor Bar Association, president of the local chapter of the National Council of Black Lawyers and a recipient of the Cleveland NAACP’s Freedom Award.
Judge George W. White, 1955 (1911–2011) George White was the first African-American appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. A graduate of Baldwin-Wallace College, he worked his way through law school on the G.I. Bill. Following graduation, he went into practice with Charles W. Fleming (1955). In the 1960s, he served as a referee and investigator in Domestic Relations Court and for five years on one of Cleveland’s most contentious City Councils. He was elected to the Court of Common Pleas in 1968 and in 1980, President Jimmy Carter appointed him to the District Court. In 1995, he was named the District Court’s Chief Judge, making him the district’s first African-American Chief Judge. Among many acclaimed judgments, he is credited with ending Cleveland’s 25-year desegregation case. After his 1999 retirement, he headed the Cleveland Browns Foundation and helped create the United Black Fund of Cleveland.
Bertram L. Wolstein, 1953 (1927–2004) Bertram Wolstein was a real estate developer, sports team owner and philanthropist who supported numerous charities and nonprofit organizations throughout greater Cleveland over the course of his life. He founded Heritage Development Company and Developers Diversified Realty Corporation, the latter of which became one of the largest developers of shopping centers in the United States. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he was majority owner of the Cleveland Force, a Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) team. Along with his wife Iris, he made several extraordinary donations to Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, whose building bears the Wolstein name as Bert L. Wolstein Hall. The Iris S. and Bert L. Wolstein Endowed Scholarship Fund continues to help Cleveland-Marshall students in perpetuity.
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