Phone (216) 443-7182
Fax (216) 443-6667
Email:
PLJONES@cuyahogacounty.us
Staff
Erin Davis, Executive Assistant
Camille Wimbish, Executive Assistant
Juanita Geter, Administrative Assistant
On February 9, 2002, Peter Lawson Jones became a member of the Board of Cuyahoga County Commissioners (“BOCC”). Jones, the only African-American county commissioner in the State of Ohio, represents the Board as Co-Chairman of Invest in Children, Vice Chairman of the Cuyahoga County Solid Waste District, Vice Chairman of the County’s Investment Advisory Committee and as the BOCC’s designee to the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture, Greater Cleveland Sports Commission and the World Trade Center-Cleveland/International Trade Alliance. He is also the Second Vice-President and a member of the Executive Committee of the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency Board of Governors. Jones previously served two and one-half terms in the Ohio House of Representatives, where he was the ranking minority (Democratic) member of the House Finance and Appropriations Committee and second vice president of the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus.
Jones is a partner with the law firm of Roetzel & Andress, working in the firm’s Cleveland office as part of the public law group. He was formerly the Vice Mayor and a Councilman in the City of Shaker Heights, Ohio. He was also the first African-American ever nominated to run for Lieutenant Governor in the history of the State of Ohio. In addition, Jones previously served as Special Counsel for the Ohio Attorney General and Associate Bar Examiner for the Supreme Court of Ohio.
A graduate of Harvard College (Magna Cum Laude in Government) and Harvard Law School, Jones was formerly law director and prosecutor for the Village of Woodmere, Ohio, and president of the Ohio Works! Company in Cleveland, a venture that placed welfare recipients in permanent full-time employment. He has also worked as a law clerk with the Supreme Court of Ohio, a congressional liaison officer with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, a speechwriter and spokesman for the 1976 Carter/Mondale Presidential Campaign and a press and legislative aide with the United States House of Representatives.
Amongst his civic activities, Jones is chairman of the Ohio Commission on Fatherhood, treasurer of the Harvard Law School Association of Cleveland and serves the County Commissioners Association of Ohio as a member of both its board of directors and special committee for legislative communication. Jones is also an executive committee member of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party, belongs to the board of trustees of the Cleveland Leadership Center, Karamu House and the Cleveland Baseball Federation and is an honorary board member of Project Love. In addition, he serves on the advisory boards of United Way Services, Greater Cleveland Habitat for Humanity, Earth Day Coalition, Senior Corps of Retired Executives, Shoes and Clothes for Kids, Shaker Schools Foundation and the National Black MBA Association, Greater Cleveland Chapter. He is also a life member of the Cleveland Branch NAACP.
For his work, Jones, who was named an Ohio Super Lawyer for 2004 – 2006, enjoys the highest Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory Peer Review Rating (“AV”) and is a graduate of the Greater Cleveland Growth Association Leadership Cleveland Program, received an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from David N. Myers University in 2002 and was inducted into the Shaker Heights Alumni Association Hall of Fame in 1987. Every year since 2004, Inside Business Magazine has included him amongst its “Power One Hundred,” a list of the most influential decision-makers in Northeast Ohio. He was named to a similar roster, Crain’s Cleveland Business “Power Pack,” in 2007 and as one of the region’s “Most Interesting People” by Cleveland Magazine in 2008. He has been honored on several occasions by the Jaycees, having earned the Outstanding Young Clevelanders Public Service Award (1989) and having been named one of the Outstanding Young Men in America (1984 and 1990). Jones, who is listed in Who’s Who in American Politics, Among Black Americans and Among Black Clevelanders, was the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party’s Co-Democrat of the Year in 2004, the Shaker Heights Democratic Club’s Democrat of the Year in 1996 and the Parma Democratic Party’s Co-Democrat of the Year in 2000. He was also the recipient of the Association of Black Psychologists Community Service Award (2006), the National Organization of African-Americans in Housing Chairman’s Award for Outstanding Public Service (2005), the Greater Cleveland Lodging Council Politician of the Year Award (2003), the National Black MBA Association, Cleveland/Northeast Ohio Chapter Community Impact Award in Government (2006), the American Association Bikur Cholim Hospital of Jerusalem International Brotherhood Award (2004), the Liberian Association of Cleveland Distinguished Humanitarian Award (2008), Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., Gamma Alpha Sigma Chapter Black Male Image Award (2007), the Blacks United in Local Government Leadership Award (2007), A Cultural Exchange’s Louis Stokes Champion of Literacy Award (2006) and the Garrett Square Economic Development Corporation Outstanding Leadership Award (2006) as well as having been a co-recipient of the Dominion “Strong Men and Women: Excellence in Leadership Program” Award (2008), the Cuyahoga County Community Mental Health Board Helping Hands Legislator of the Year Award (2006), the Shoes and Clothes for Kids Golden Shoe Award (2002), the Hunger Network of Greater Cleveland “No Child Should Go Hungry” Award (2003), the Towards Employment “Advocate of Note” Award (2008), the Cuyahoga Community College Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Service-Learning Program Next Generation Award (2007), the Knights & Ladies of St. Peter Claver African-American Male Image Award (2003), the NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio Champions of Choice Award (2005), the National Sorority of Phi Delta Kappa, Inc., Gamma Rho Chapter Y.E.S. Outstanding Service Award (2006), the East Side Organizing Project “In It For The Long Haul” Award (2008), the New Directions Community Gratitude Award (2003-2004) and the Parents of Comfort Outstanding Community Achievement Award (2007). In addition, Jones has, for his contributions to the community, received awards from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (1977) for meritorious service as well as from the Homeless Service Network (2002), Nela Residential Association and Cleveland East Watch (2002), Concord Baptist Church (2002), East Ohio Gas Company and WZAK-FM (1992), United Area Citizens Agency (1992), Eastside Coalition (1986) and the Shaker Heights High School PUSH-Excel Program (1981).
For his efforts as a legislator, Jones received the Ohio School Counselors Association Legislator of the Year Award (2000), Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbank’s Ohio Hunger Hero Award (2000), a Certificate of Appreciation from the Northern Ohio Breast Cancer Coalition and the Center for Families and Children Fathers and Families Together Community and Families First Awards (2000). He was one of approximately forty state legislators from across the nation selected to attend the 1997 Emerging Political Leaders Program at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. In 1998, he was one of twelve state level officials selected by Project Interchange to travel overseas to participate in its Israel Seminar.
In his leisure time, Jones enjoys sports, reading, travel and theatre. He has appeared in several local plays and a drama he has written, “The Family Line”, has been successfully produced at Karamu Performing Arts Theatre, Harvard University and Ohio University and received a staged reading at the Beck Center for the Arts and the East Cleveland Community Theatre. Jones and his spouse, Lisa, are the proud parents of three children: Ryan Charles (born May 15, 1988), Leah Danielle (May 15, 1992) and Evan Cooke (April 12, 2000). They are members of Mt. Zion Congregational Church, UCC.
Revised 2/05/09