Anthony J. Celebrezze

Celebrezze was born in 1910 as one of thirteen children to Dorothy (née Marcogiuseppe) and Rocco Cilibrizzi in Anzi, a town in the administrative region of Basilicata, southern Italy. The family moved to the United States when he was two years old, and the surname was Americanized in spelling to "Celebrezze."[1] /sɛləˈbriːzi/. After having been a shepherd in Anzi, the father Rocco took an industrial job, becoming a track laborer for the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railroad in Cleveland.

Like many of his immigrant generation, Anthony Celebrezze took odd jobs as a youngster, shining shoes and selling newspapers. He attended Cleveland Public Schools, graduating from Central High School[1] and Fenn College (later developed as Cleveland State University).[2]

He graduated from John Carroll University in 1934.[3] During his college years, he earned his way by working as a railroad laborer and freight truck driver, as well as boxer.[1] He later attended Ohio Northern University in Ada, Ohio, where he received a Bachelor of Laws in 1936 from the Claude W. Pettit College of Law (then known as the Warren G. Harding College of Law).[4]

Celebrezze began working for the Ohio Unemployment Commission in Columbus, Ohio. In 1938, he passed the bar and returned to Cleveland, where he entered the general practice of law.[1] That same year, he married Anne M. Marco, a graduate of Western Reserve University and a teacher in the Cleveland Public School system, on May 7, 1938.[1] With the onset of World War II, Celebrezze enlisted in the United States Navy. Upon his discharge at the end of the war, he returned to private practice.[4]

In 1950, Celebrezze ran for a seat in the Ohio State Senate, vacated by Howard Metzenbaum, and won. He served as an Ohio state senator from 1951 to 1953. One of the few Democrats to serve in the Senate at the time, Celebrezze cultivated a friendly relationship with the Republican majority. Governor Frank J. Lausche, a Democrat and former Mayor of Cleveland, did not have a good relationship with the Democratic leadership in the Senate. Lausche thus relied heavily on Celebrezze to represent his interests in the Senate.

In 1952, when Celebrezze sought re-election to the state senate, he ran into trouble when he crossed the Democratic party chairman, Ray T. Miller, by supporting fellow Italian American Michael DiSalle for the United States Senate instead of James M. Carney. Celebrezze was renominated by his party and won the general election. Six years later in his gubernatorial campaign, he ran against DiSalle.

Cabinet Secretary

Celebrezze and John F. Kennedy

In 1962, President Kennedy returned to Celebrezze with an offer of a cabinet appointment as United States Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare (now the Department of Health and Human Services). Celebrezze resigned as mayor in 1962 before his appointment on July 31, 1962.[7] He continued his service under President Lyndon Johnson following Kennedy's assassination in November 1963.

During this time, Celebrezze contributed to the enactment of landmark social legislation, most notably the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Social Security Act of 1965. One of Celebrezze's most important achievements as secretary of HEW was separating the public assistance and child health and welfare functions from the Social Security Administration, and transferring these programs to a new Welfare Administration. Celebrezze shaped HEW to fit Johnson's initiatives, including getting power from Congress to deny funds for any federal HEW program to any state or institution that practiced racial segregation.[8]

Celebrezze found it difficult to maintain two households on his $25,000 salary and apart from his family,[1] and asked Johnson to return to Cleveland. "We are going to lose the house in Cleveland if I continue to live here, Mr. President," Celebrezze told Johnson. The President replied that Celebrezze was too honest for Washington because he was the first cabinet secretary "to go broke while working for the White House." Celebrezze resigned as HEW Secretary on August 17, 1965.[7]

Celebrezze in his old age

Celebrezze was nominated by President Lyndon B. Johnson on July 27, 1965, to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, which had been vacated by Judge Lester Lefevre Cecil. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on August 19, 1965, and received his commission on August 19, 1965. After more than fifteen years of service, Celebrezze assumed senior status on October 1, 1980. His service terminated on October 29, 1998, due to his death.[4]

In the last three years of his life, Celebrezze was mostly inactive on the court, and spent most of his time organizing his personal papers. In the summer of 1998, he became easily fatigued, and advanced throat cancer was diagnosed about September. He was hospitalized briefly at Lakewood Hospital and at the Cleveland Clinic before transferring to the Corinthian Skilled Nursing Center in Cleveland about October 22, 1998. He died there on October 29, 1998.[9] His funeral was held at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Cleveland, and he was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Brook Park, Ohio.[10]

Celebrezze and his wife Anne had three children: Anthony J. Celebrezze Jr., Jean Ann (Celebrezze) Porto, and Susan Marie (Celebrezze) Sullivan. Anthony Jr. became an attorney and served as Ohio Attorney General; he also ran for governor. The pair are the only father and son to both run as candidates for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in Ohio. His grandson Anthony J. Celebrezze III (son of Anthony Jr.), also ran for public office.

Celebrezze's older brother Frank D. Celebrezze I (b. 1899) also became an attorney and was active in civic service. He served as Cleveland Safety Director and later was appointed as a Cleveland Municipal Court judge. His descendants also became attorneys and active politically. Frank Celebrezze became Ohio Chief Justice, and James Celebrezze became an Ohio Supreme Court Judge. Frank D. Celebrezze Jr. (grandson to the first Frank) became an Ohio Appeals Court Judge, and Leslie Ann Celebrezze became Domestic Relations Judge of Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas.

Anthony J. Celebrezze fireboat on the Cuyahoga River

• In 1964, Celebrezze received the Alumni Medal from his alma mater, John Carroll University.[3] In 1978, JCU conferred him an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.[11] He also had honorary degrees from Fenn College, Boston College, LaSalle College, Ohio Northern University, Rhode Island College, Bowling Green State University, Wilberforce University, Miami University (Ohio) and Cleveland State University.[1]

• The federal building in Cleveland is named after Celebrezze, as well as an archives room at Ohio Northern University law school (Ada, Ohio). Additionally, a Cleveland Fire Department fireboat was named after Celebrezze.[12]

• List of foreign-born United States Cabinet members
• Ohio gubernatorial elections

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Anthony J. Celebrezze.

• Anthony Joseph Celebrezze at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
• "Anthony Celebrezze". Presidential Cabinet Secretary, Cleveland Mayor. Find a Grave. March 13, 2002. Retrieved March 20, 2013.