Zucker seeks re-election to continue serving UH community

After a two-year break following 26 years of service on City Council, former vice mayor Adele Zucker is back with more passion than ever, running for council again.

Her reason for running is simple: She says she has missed being able to serve the community and wants “to improve the City of University Heights.”

While growing up, Zucker said in an interview, she aspired to be a glamorous Hollywood actress. She was in every play in high school and gave it her all, singing and dancing under the bright stage lights.

Her aspirations changed, she said lightheartedly, when she found out she really could not sing. So she turned to a career that needed just as much artistic talent and flair: journalism. After graduating from Ohio University with a bachelor’s degree in journalism in 1954, she soon moved to the city that many call “Believeland” – that is, Cleveland.

Wasting no time, Zucker started out working for TV Guide Magazine, where she was program editor of the Cleveland edition. Zucker has held many other positions in various companies. She has worked for Blue Cross of Northeast Ohio, the National Cotton Council, the Cleveland Jewish News, the Flappers and the Jewish Family Service Association of Cleveland.

In 1983 she decided to switch gears and dedicate herself to improving the community of University Heights. Paul Keating moved out of the city in 1983 and in October of that same year, Adele Zucker moved onto council, filling his seat.

Never missing a beat, Zucker was returned in each of the next six elections. During her 26 years on council Zucker was part of various committees, for example the Building Committee, Governmental Affairs Committee, Civic Information Committee, Service and Utilities Committee and the Finance Committee, just to name a few.

Zucker has also taken roles of leadership, as the chair of many committees, such as the Civic Information Committee and Service and Utilities Committee. Zucker also served as vice mayor from 2000 to 2009.

“Working with the residents is a wonderful thing,” Zucker says. She is especially proud of her teamwork with “a grassroots committee” that helped to create an amendment that allowed for a property tax increase. This property tax increase provided a paramedic/advanced life support service for University Heights.

She also takes pride in her work with others to replace “the out-of-date, 35-year-old municipal pool at Purvis Park.”

Zucker is a firm believer in healthy communication and working together. She states that council has to “work things out” when people disagree. When something does not go your way, “you can’t take it personally, and you have to compromise.”

Zucker hopes to regain her position on council in order to support the mayor, as well as to work on implementing the results of 2009 surveys such as the garbage report.

As for Zucker’s relationship with John Carroll, she states that she has never had problems with the university. When her children were young, all of her babysitters were students from John Carroll, she says. She now lives across the street from a group of John Carroll men. Zucker said that on move-in day, the young men introduced themselves to her, even giving her their cell numbers in case she ever needed anything.