The Cleveland Heights High School Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame inducted ten new members on May 8 at Executive Caterers at Landerhaven. The Hall of Fame was created as a way for Heights to honor the accomplishments of its alumni while giving current students solid examples of what they can accomplish in life, hearing from adults who sat in the same seats and walked the same halls as they do.

From over 50,000 graduates, a student committee selects inductees from nominations made by the general public. Students do not know the names of the nominees, only their accomplishments.

“Each year I am impressed by the applications of the nominees, but it is not until you actually meet the inductees and hear from them that you understand why the students selected them for induction,” states Eric Silverman, Heights High Class of 1987 and President of the Cleveland Heights High School Alumni Foundation. “We have only scratched the surface on those who should be in the Hall of Fame and encourage people to nominate Heights alumni they feel should be honored.”

Nomination forms, biographies of past inductees and a complete list of inductees can be found at www.heightsalumni.org/hof.

Alexis Abramson, PhD ‘91

Dr. Alexis Abramson is a leader in the field of mechanical engineering through her various awards, years of teaching, many publications and innovations in research and development. An assistant professor in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Case Western Reserve University, she has published and has presented on the topic of micro/nanoscale thermal transport and nanotechnology.

Kathy Simkoff Blackman ‘86

Kathy Simkoff Blackman created the Grog Shop, a nationally known music club which promotes up and coming artists. She expanded the club in 2003 and opened the B-Side Liquor Lounge, which hosts DJs from around the country. She has been honored by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for achievement in music and was recognized as one of the Top 10 Women Business Owners in 2006 by the National Association of Women Business Owners.

Manuel Freeman, DMD ‘54

Manuel Freeman is the co-founder and current participant of a Dayton-based overseas medical team whose goal is to provide health care to indigent children in Latin America, most afflicted with cleft lip or palate. The organization obtains equipment and encourages other professionals to help. He also has a part-time practice in oral surgery and was in the US Naval Reserve for 20 years.

Judye Robbins Groner, MSW ‘60

Judye Robbins Groner is the co-founder of Kar-Ben Copies in 1975, and since 2001 a division of Lerner Publishing Group in Minneapolis. She has been the publisher of over 200 books on Jewish themes for children and families. Co-author of My Very Own Haggadah, Thank you, God, the All About and Fun for Little Hands Jewish holiday series, and 32 editions of My Very Own Jewish Calendar, she received the Women’s National Book Association Bookie Award in 1987 and the Association of Jewish Libraries Sydney Taylor Book-of-Work Award in 2003.

Ellen Newman Heyman, RN ’60

Ellen Newman Heyman is the co-founder and program director of The Gathering Place, a community-based cancer support center offering education and psychosocial support. She has been a psychiatric-mental health clinical nurse specialist at University Hospitals of Cleveland for 17 years, providing support and coping strategies to patients, families and staff. She is also a clinical instructor in the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University.

Jerry Hirshberg ‘57

Jerry Hirshberg is the retired president and founder of Nissan Design International and is a consultant for Nissan Motor, Ltd. He founded a unique design facility, championing both product and automobile design. He was named to the board of Nissan North American and was featured in a 3-year national ad campaign. He was awarded an honorary doctorate degree from the Cleveland Institute of Art and has won numerous national and international design awards.

Robert H. Jackson, JD ‘55

Robert Jackson is the senior partner at Kohrman, Jackson & Krantz P.L.L. in Cleveland. Author of Book Talk: Essays on Books and Collecting, Booksellers, and Special Collections; Standing on Ceremony:Traditional African Arms, with Donna Jackson, and Serial Publications: Essential Parts of the 19th Century Imagination, he has spoken extensively throughout the United States and Europe including the Library of Congress on literature, rare books, libraries and travel.

Jed K. Margolis ‘69

Jed Margolis is the executive director at Maccabi USA/Sports for Israel in Philadelphia. He has worked diligently to promote sports as a vehicle to strengthen Jewish identity and Jewish pride as well as love for the State of Israel. Since his tenure began at Maccabi USA in 2002, they have taken record numbers of Americans to Australia, Chile, Rome, Argentina and Israel for Maccabi competitions.

Greta Rothman ‘90

Greta Rothman is the Director of Special Events in the Alumni & Development Office at Western Reserve Academy in Hudson. She was a group sales and special events internship at the Tony Award Winning McCarter Theatre, where she gained experience to be hired full-time by the theater as the house manager and volunteer coordinator. She is a member of the Heights Singers Hall of Fame and earned the Betty Palevsky Freed Music Scholarship among many other music and theatre awards.

Toni Milano Starinsky ’72

Toni Milano Starinsky is a photography teacher and Chairman of Visual Arts at the Cleveland School of the Arts. She was the National Scholastic Art and Writing Awards Educator of the Year, and was awarded the 2006 Young Audiences of Northeast Ohio Art Educator of the Year. She is the creator and founder of STAMP, Students and Mentoring Photography, which extends the effective reach of photography department into other communities, and is slated to expand to at least three more Cleveland public schools.

Michael Dougherty is the coordinator of communications for the Cleveland Heights – University Heights City School District.