YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (AP) - Harry Meshel, a former state senator, state party chairman and powerful Youngstown Democrat who began his decades-long political career organizing for presidential candidate John F. Kennedy in 1960, has died. He was 93.
Meshel died Monday after a long illness, Ohio Democratic Chairman David Pepper said Tuesday.
A graduate of Youngstown College and Columbia University who had served in World War II, Meshel ran unsuccessfully for local office before first landing a seat in the Ohio Senate in 1970.
He served in the chamber for 22 years, working his way through the leadership ranks to serve as Senate minority leader and president. Meshel resigned in 1993 to lead the Ohio Democratic Party for two years.
“I enjoyed doing things for people and doing things that needed to be done,” Meshel told The Vindicator newspaper in Youngstown in 2014. “I chose not to be weak, and it rubbed some people the wrong way. But most people I fought with, I remained friends with. I enjoyed working with people.”
Pepper says Meshel remained active in the Mahoning Valley’s political, economic and cultural life into his 90s.
Among his admirers was actor Ed O’Neill, the Valley native who stars in ABC-TV’s “Modern Family.”
“He knew everything about everyone connected to the town,” O’Neill told The Vindicator. “He was just amazing - really kind of a Youngstown treasure.”
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