(This article, reprinted with permission, featuring John Loehnert, class of 1940, appeared in The Columbus Dispatch on July 14, 2005)   7/23/05

John Tyler Loehnert
Longtime fan of everything about Bexley dies at 82

By Kirk D. Richards
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Bexley is mourning the loss of a longtime resident and community activist who coached boys basketball, announced high school football games, sat on the City Council and briefly served as mayor.

John Tyler Loehnert died Monday at Mount Carmel West hospital after a battle with leukemia and diabetes. He was 82.

Mayor David Madison described Loehnert yesterday as a close friend who would do anything for the community.

“He is the only resident that I would say loved this city even more than I,” Madison said. “I really mean that. He was involved in everything.”

When Madison resigned in May 1995 as part of a plea bargain with the Franklin County prosecutor’s office, which had questioned the handling of Bexley Mayor’s Court cases, he urged the City Council to appoint Loehnert.

“He did a fabulous job” as mayor, said Madison, who was permitted to seek reelection in November of that year and won. Madison, now in his eighth term as mayor, praised Loehnert for his longtime commitment as the suburb’s representative to the Mid Ohio Regional Planning Commission.

“As of this week, he was still a voting member” of MORPC, Madison said. “He never let it go, and he’d come to council once a month to report back.”

Loehnert’s son Todd said his father had a strong work ethic.

“He never really retired,” Todd Loehnert said.

Loehnert, born in Cleveland on June 3, 1923, graduated from Bexley High School and Denison University, where he played baseball and basketball.

The U.S. Navy veteran served as a commander in the Philippines during World War II.

From 1948 to 1953, he was head coach for the Denison men’s basketball team.

In Columbus, he worked at Dollar Federal Savings and Loan from 1953 to 1982 and was a mortgage officer for Chase Manhattan Bank from 1983 to 1988.

He served on the Bexley City Council in the 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s.

In the 1970s and ‘80s, his voice also became familiar to crowds at Bexley High School football games where he was the public-address announcer.

In 1986, the Bexley Celebrations Association named Loehnert the citizen of the year.

He is survived by Gale Loehnert, his wife of 59 years, four children, eight grandchildren, two stepgrandchildren, a brother and a sister.

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