ELYRIA — Former Mayor Leonard P. Reichlin, 90, who helped Elyria through growing pains in the 1960s and 1970s and was in charge during the Elyria race riots of 1975, died Wednesday at his home.

“He made a lot of enemies because he didn’t always say what was expected,” said his daughter, Bonnie Reichlin-Roberts. “But he always did what he felt was right and what he felt was best for Elyria.”

Reichlin

Reichlin founded Reichlin Roberts Funeral Home on Cleveland Street and was Elyria’s 1st Ward councilman for four years. He went on to serve as mayor from 1966 to 1975 and as a county commissioner from 1980 to 1986.

“He was a straight shooter,” said county auditor Mark Stewart, whose family was close to the Reichlins. “He was from the Harry Truman way of doing politics. If somebody didn’t like what was being said, they still went away knowing exactly what Mayor Reichlin felt.”

Peggy Reichlin was married to Leonard for 64 years, and she took over the funeral home business for a decade so he could focus on running Elyria.

“The biggest issue for him was getting (Lorain County Community College) running,” she said. “He wanted that college and was proud of it. He fought and fought to get Abbe Road widened so it would run up to the school. It was just a two-lane country road back then, and a lot of people didn’t want that to change.”

Reichlin, a Democrat, was responsible for a huge paving project in downtown Elyria, fought unsuccessfully to get a 1 percent income tax on the books in the late 1960s, wrestled with cuts to police and recreation projects and was an advocate for urban renewal, according to stories published in The Chronicle-Telegram during his tenure.

He also used eminent domain to set aside land for new highways that brought industry to the county, and as a councilman he helped pass legislation to get the Ohio Turnpike to pass through Elyria, Stewart said.

Bonnie Reichlin-Roberts said her father refused to use anything but Moen faucets in his house as a show of support for Elyria industry. He also insisted on painting a big smiley face on the top of the city’s water tower so pilots flying overhead would look kindly on Elyria, she said.

But the most dire time of Reichlin’s political career came in August 1975, when race riots erupted in Elyria’s streets over the slaying of 15-year-old Daryl Maxwell.

Maxwell — who was black — was shot in the back of the head and killed by a white Elyria police officer who said Maxwell was involved in a burglary at Mayfair Bar on West River Street.

In two nights of rioting, at least 30 cars were stoned, 40 people were arrested, 21 people were injured, several businesses were fire-bombed and people threw rocks at firefighters.

Police struggled against a crowd of about 400 gathered in the parking lot of Roosevelt School seeking retaliation for Maxwell’s death. The Ohio Highway Patrol’s riot squad was called to help keep order.

“I appeal to the people who feel aggrieved to come up here and talk over their problems. Destruction doesn’t solve anything,” Reichlin said after the first night of unrest.

Ray Noble, who now heads the Lorain County Republican Party, said he lived in Cleveland during the riots and remembers the drastic measures Reichlin took to restore peace.

“He did a wonderful job calling in the National Guard,” he said.

Noble said he moved to the county the year after the riots and was the only black person living on his street. He said the racial tensions never quite faded after Maxwell’s death and many of the businesses that were fire-bombed never reopened.

He said that years later as a commissioner, Reichlin didn’t care much about making his party happy — as long as he accomplished his goals.

“I thought he was a stand-up guy,” Noble said. “He was elected as a Democrat, and he wasn’t afraid to cross party lines to solve problems.”

Reichlin’s son, Mark Reichlin, said his father stopped running for office because he believed no one man should be in charge for so long.

But local leaders never stopped looking to him for direction.

Current Elyria Mayor Bill Grace said he turned to Reichlin for advice early in his career and called him a few times since then.

“He was well-liked, and he did a lot of good work,” Grace said. “He was someone who could tell you what was the right thing to do.”

Contact Jason Hawk at 329-7148 or jhawk@chroniclet.com.

---

Print this story
Report an inappropriate comment

---

In order to comment, you must agree to our user agreement and discussion guidelines.

Need help? Email Us.

---