MAYFIELD HEIGHTS -- Harold Mendes said hes just an ordinary guy, downplaying the achievements that led to his induction into the Cleveland Heights High School Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame.

It was my good fortune that my parents valued education and encouraged their children to enter college and to find their own way, Mendes said during his acceptance speech as one of 10 inductees into the schools hall of fame May 3 at Executive Caterers at Landerhaven.

They were great role models. They worked hard, they were successful, and this has enabled our family to honor their memory by funding multiple scholarships in their names at Heights High.

Mendes, a 1945 Heights High graduate who lives in Moreland Hills, said he and his wife, Barbara, recently met and interviewed students who applied for the Joseph and Mollie Mendes Memorial Scholarship, and they came away impressed.

The Tiger Nations best days are still ahead, he said.

Other inductees were Robert C. Gaede, class of 1938; Lois Klein Goodman and William E. Halal, both class of 1951; Susan Huddis Koppelman, class of 1958; Dr. Mark Lurie, class of 1962; Pamela Anne Miller, class of 1973; Brent E. Routman, class of 1974; Alisa Weilerstein, class of 1999; and Dr. Philip Yosowitz, class of 1959.

Gaede is deceased. Halal, Koppelman, Lurie and Weilerstein were unable to attend the ceremony.

Barbara Mendes received the Hilary Ancker Award, presented each year in memory of a former Heights High student who died from a rare lung disease in 1988.

A business genius

Jacob Stern, a senior at Heights High, presented Mendes, his great-uncle, for induction. Stern was one of the Imagemakers, a student committee that selects the inductees from nominations made by the general public.

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Moreland Hills, Shaker Heights residents among inductees into Cleveland Heights High School Distinguished Alumni Hall ...