Peter B. Halbin ’56 — excerpted from Cleveland Plain Dealer: Pete, 69, was involved in Cleveland’s political, civic and medical communities during 40 years of activism, died Saturday, January 3, 2004 at the Holy Family Cancer Home. He had cancer diagnosed in 1991, and had been expected to live for only a few months, but he survived 14 hours of surgery on his pancreas and returned to his public-relations practice. Pete was a key member of Mayor Carl Stokes’ team and, in the ’60s, he was the first black mayor of a major US city.Born in Buffalo, he earned a BA in sociology at Ohio Wesleyan University and an MA at Western Reserve University’s School of Applied Social Science.
He was a youth worker with street gangs and a supervisor with the Catholic Counseling Center before he took the City Club post in 1965. His duties included booking such national speakers as Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and thensegregationist leader George Wallace. Halbin opened a publicrelations office. He handled accounts with social-service agencies, labor unions and businesses. His range of clients included the Center for Human Services the Ohio Conference of Teamsters led by Jackie Presser and Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Although he considered himself a Democrat, he also was involved in campaigns for Republican Mayor George
Voinovich.
His firm, Bellamy & Halbin, later became Halbin Strategic Communications. After Halbin recovered from his surgery, he organized a pancreatic cancer support group at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and counseled scores of patients. He developed a directory of cancer patient resources in the region and distributed it through libraries, cancer groups and the Internet. He visited newly-diagnosed patients in their homes throughout Northeast Ohio and appeared on national television from New York.
His volunteer work led to his appointment as the first nonmedical member of the Oncology Nurses Society and the advisory board of the Gathering Place cancer support center. Halbin was also interested in football. His name was mentioned on broadcasts of Browns games over 19 seasons when he served as a spotter for NBC in the 1970s and ’80s.
In 1983, he married Mary Schwendeman, chief executive of the local chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association. They lived in Cleveland Heights. He is also survived by daughters, Nancy C. Betker of Chicago and Gretchen K. Schultz of Hinckley Township; two granddaughters; and a sister.
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