By Kathy Wray Coleman,  Editor-in-Chief,

(www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)

Kathy Wray Coleman is  a community activist and

 20 year investigative journalist

 who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspape

Ohio's Black press with 

print newspapers in Cleveland,

Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio

MAYFIELD HEIGHTS, Ohio- Democratic political guru Arnold Pinkney, a former Cleveland school board president and Cleveland mayoral candidate who was the campaign manager for the Rev Jesse Jackson's 1984 unsuccessful campaign for U.S. president, and who help make or break some local Cleveland politicians as a brilliant political strategist also remembered for helping to pull off an almost impossible Cleveland schools operating levy in 1996, died earlier today after a battle with cancer. He was 83.

Services are entrusted to E.F. Boyd & Son Funeral Home and arrangements are pending, funeral home officials said.

Also the brains behind strategy campaigns convincing Ohio voters to approve gambling casinos throughout the state, and who supported Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson's successful campaign for reelection last year, among  other city mayors and mayoral wannabes, Pinkney leaves behind a political legacy.

Prominent people expected to attend funeral services include Frank Jackson, and Rev Jesse Jackson Sr.

Mayor  Jackson,  Cleveland Chapter Southern Christian Leadership Conference Executive Director the Rev. Dr. E. Theophilus Caviness, also the first vice president of the Cleveland NAACP, Cleveland NAACP President the Rev. Hilton Smith, and retired U.S. Rep Louis Stokes of Shaker Heights and his daughter, Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Angela Stokes, were among those that made visits in recent weeks to Pinkney to say farewell at the Hospice of the Western Reserve in Cleveland. In addition to a long list of friends, political comrades and other relatives, the long time Democrat leaves behind his wife of many years, Betty Pinkney, and a daughter, Traci Lynn Pinkney, a retailer for the Ohio lottery.

News of his death was the buzz today among both Black and White leaders and politicians of greater Cleveland, particularly the movers and shakers.

"The Cleveland community has lost a remarkable public servant who cared deeply about the future of our children and the well-being of all people, and Mr. Pinkney has been a friend and an astute political mentor to many, including me" said Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge (D-11), a Warrensville Heights Democrat who also chairs the Congressional Black Caucus of Blacks in Congress. "My thoughts and prayers go out to his wife Betty, his daughter Traci, and all other members of his family."

"He was a consummate insider in Cleveland politics and beyond and we shall miss him," said state Rep. Bill Patmon (D-10), a Cleveland Democrat.

Also a former Cleveland city councilman, Patmon told Cleveland Urban News.Com, Ohio's most read digital Black newspaper and one of the top Black-owned Black online newspaper's in the country, that Pinkney made his mark in politics.

"His body of work speaks for him," said Patmon.

State Rep John Barnes Jr. (D-12), whose father John Barnes Sr. is a former Cleveland councilman, called Pinkney "a family friend."

A Clevelander until recent years when he and his wife downsized and moved to the nearby suburb of Mayfield Heights, Pinkney was a constituent of Barnes' 12th state legislative district, which includes the Lee-Harvard communities in Cleveland and some neighboring suburbs, including Mayfield Heights.

"Arnold Pinkney's journey over the political landscape is historic because he created successful political models," Barnes told Cleveland Urban News.Com." When you had Arnold as a campaign manager, you knew you were headed for a win."

Barnes said that "Pr. Pinkney will be remembered for his wisdom and passion as a change agent for the betterment of the community."

(www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)