Ohio's Paul Newman Leaves Buckeyes Proud Legacy of Activism

OhioNewsBureau

by John Michael Spinelli

Columbus, Ohio: Paul NewmanPaul Newman, a modern icon of our time died from cancer Saturday at age 83 at his home in Westport Conn. The ruggedly handsome actor with his own share of chiseled features, was known for many things, from his award winning movies to his lust for race cars to his boundless philanthropy. One basic for Newmanologists is that he was born in Cleveland Heights, although he grew up in the upscale suburb of Shaker Heights, Ohio.

A Buckeye from birth, he took his high school degree and his interest in acting southeast to Athens County, home to Ohio University, located in Appalachia. He spent one year at OU, then joined the Navy in WWII, and tried to become a pilot only to find out he was colorblind. He opted to become an aircraft radio operator.

With the election season on us again in Ohio, we're reminded of Paul Newman championed liberal political activisim. In 1968 he supported Eugene McCarthy and was reported to be 19th on Richard Nixon's now infamous enemies list. More recently, he took a public stand in support of the ill-fated candidacy of Ned LamontNed Lamont of Connetcuit, who tried to unseat then-Democratic Sen. Joe LiebermanJoe Lieberman. Like other famous and handsome male actors, the notion of Newman becoming a candidate for public office was always a nasty rumor. Newman provided financial support to Conneticut's Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd, who competed in the 2008 race for president.

Newman was also politically active. In 1978, he was a U.S. representative to the United Nations sessions on nuclear disarmament. He wrote Op-Ed pieces for the New York Times about environmental protections and civil rights and was a major donor to the Democratic Party and civil rights groups.

Opposed to the war in Vietnam in the 1960s, he participated in several anti-war demonstrations and campaigned during the 1968 Democratic presidential primaries for anti-war candidate Sen. Eugene McCarthyEugene McCarthy of Minnesota. He was a delegate for McCarthy at the infamous, riot-inflamed Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August 1968.[Cleveland Plain Dealer ]

When he returned to college after the war, Paul Leonard Newman, born on Jan. 26, 1925, entered Kenyon College, a private liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio, founded in 1824. His alma matter announced alst year that the actor, also known for a line of foods called "Newman's Own," had donated $10 million to the school to establish a scholarship fund as part of the college's current fund-raising campaign. Newman and his wife, actress Joanne WoodwardJoanne Woodward, to whom he was married for 50 years, were involved with previous campaigns for the college.

In May 1950 his father died, and Mr. Newman returned to Cleveland to run the sporting goods store. He brought with him a wife, Jacqueline Witte, an actress he had met in summer stock. But after 18 months Paul asked his brother to take over the business while he, his wife and their year-old son, Scott, headed for Yale University, where Mr. Newman intended to concentrate on directing.[New York Times ]

Arthur Newman Sr. and Paul's uncle, Joseph, ran Newman-Stern Co.different side of family and separate from newman outfitters and newman adler stores, which came later to Cleveland: The business, which started by selling radios as the Electro-Set Co. in 1915, evolved into one of the nation's largest sporting goods stores. In 1921, it moved into its primary location at 1740 East 12th Street at Walnut Avenue in downtown Cleveland.

Arthur, whose family came from Germany, was Jewish, and Theresa was a Catholic from Slovakia who later converted to Christian Science. Their youngest son, not especially religious, once remarked that he considered himself a Jew "because it is more challenging."[Cleveland Plain Dealer ].

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