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Louis Berkman

Louis Berkman was born in Canton , Ohio , in 1909, son of Sarah and Hyman Berkman. In 1935, he married Sandra Weiss of Pittsburgh , Pa. , who passed away in 1983.V

The Berkmans were the parents of two children, Marshall (who perished in the crash of US Air Flight 427 in Pittsburgh in 1994) and Donna, who is married to Robert A. Paul, president and chief executive officer of Ampco-Pittsburgh Corp., located in Pittsburgh . Mr. Berkman is the grandfather of six and the great-grandfather of nine.

He was married to Jane Goldberg of Pittsburgh in 1986, who died in 1998. He then married the former Ruth Suttin of Pittsburgh in 2001.

Mr. Berkman started in business in the late 1920s in the scrap iron and steel industry. In 1931, he incorporated The Louis Berkman Company in Steubenville , Ohio . The Louis Berkman Co. consists of many diversified companies including Meyer Products Inc., Swenson Spreader Co., Follansbee Steel, Scott Lumber Co. and Industrial Supplies Co. The Louis Berkman Co. also is the principal shareholder of the Ampco-Pittsburgh Corp.

Berkman was instrumental in the fundraising for St. John Medical Center , now known as Trinity Medical Center West, and St. John Arena in Steubenville . He made personal contributions to secure the Toronto site for the titanium plant now known as TIMET, which was a significant factor in the location of the industry in Toronto , Ohio . Berkman presented a deed for the underlying coal rights on 28.4 acres of land southwest of Toronto so that a new school could be built on the site. The deed was conveyed for “one dollar and love.” He also was instrumental in the rebuilding of the Steubenville Country Club after it was destroyed by fire in the early 1960s, and he donated the land on Lovers Lane in Steubenville for Temple Beth Israel.

A recipient of numerous awards throughout his lifetime, he received the coveted Caritas Medal from the Diocese of Steubenville in 1963 for his distinguished and meritorious contributions. In 1965, he was conferred the title of Grand Official Merit of the Italian Republic at the request of the Prime Minister of Rome, Italy. In 1975, he received an honorary doctorate in business science from the Franciscan University of Steubenville. In 1985, he was presented the “President’s Award” from Franciscan University as well.

Through the Louis and Sandra Berkman Foundation, Berkman has established the “H.L. Berkman Faculty and Staff Dining Room” and the “Sandra Weiss Berkman Studio for Ceramic Arts” at Bethany College in Bethany , W.Va. The Foundation also made possible the “ Learning Resource Center ” and “The Louis Berkman Fireside Lounge” in the J.C. Williams Center at Franciscan University of Steubenville.

Again through the Foundation, in 1986 Berkman established the “Louis Berkman Professor of Economics Scholarship” at Harvard University , and in 1998 the Foundation established the “Louis Berkman Scholarship Fund” at both the Franciscan University of Steubenville and Bethany College . In the same year, the “Louis Berkman Scholarship” was established at Cornell University in New York .

Mr. Berkman is a member of the Steubenville Rotary, Elks Club, Steubenville Country Club, Westmoreland Country Club, Williams Country Club, Pittsburgh Athletic Club, Duquesne Club, Concordia Club, Pittsburgh Symphony Society, Oglebay Institute, Temple Beth Israel in Steubenville and Rodof Shalom Congregation in Pittsburgh.

Joye M. Carter, M.D

Joye M. Carter, M.D., a native of Wellsville , Ohio , holds the distinction of being the first female to serve as the chief medical examiner for Washington , D.C. , as well as the first female and first African American to head a medical examiner’s office in the state of Texas .

From July 1996 to October 2002, Carter was the chief medical examiner for Harris County, Texas. A board certified forensic pathologist, she received her medical degree from Howard University College of Medicine in 1983.

She received her undergraduate degree from Wittenberg University in Springfield , Ohio , and completed her postgraduate medical education at Booth Memorial Hospital in New York and at Howard University Hospital in Washington , D.C. She also is board certified in anatomical and clinical pathology. Her forensic training was conducted in Miami , Fla.

Prior to assuming the chief medical examiner position in Houston , Carter served as the chief medical examiner for the District of Columbia . Before working with the Washington , D.C. office, she served as a Major in the U.S. Air Force and as Deputy Chief Medical Examiner for the Armed Forces Medical Examiner Department, located in the Walter Reed Army Hospital complex.

Carter has held faculty appointments at George Washington University , Howard University , the University of Texas Health Science Center, the University of Texas School of Public Health and Baylor College of Medicine. She is the author of several articles in peer review medical journals and was featured in Health Quest Magazine in 2001.

Most recently, she was an honoree at Metro’s Annual Black History Month Celebration 2002, and Houston Community College also named her a Contemporary Black History Maker 2002.

In 1996, Carter traveled to South Africa to evaluate the organization of death investigations in that country and while there, addressed the Supreme Court on developing an independent system. She has provided expert testimony to the United States Senate Judiciary Committee on the actions of date-rape drugs and was instrumental in the passage of a law that made drugs such as GHB (gamma hydroxy butyrate) illegal.

With a strong sense of community, Carter served as the first director of the Healthy People 2000 Anti-Violence Campaign in Washington , D.C. , and has developed a teen driving program (Saving Our Kids) to deter teen fatalities in Houston .

An avowed animal lover, she participates in dog adoption programs. She served as the chairperson for the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Bread of Life (a homeless project at St. John’s United Methodist Church in Houston ) and was president of the Houston Medical Forum.

In addition to her professional and community duties, Carter also is an author of two books, My Strength Comes From Within and I Speak for the Dead, her most recent release. She is a self-publisher under the name of Biblical Dogs Publishing.

In her first book, My Strength Comes From Within, Carter discusses her childhood, her feelings about her occupation and the paths she took on her journey to where she is now.

In making that journey, Carter said she has endured racial bias, sexism and many obstacles, but by maintaining her vision of what she was determined to do and with a firm belief in God, she has charted her course.

Carter continues to lecture and do consulting work as a physician under the name of J & M Forensic Consulting.

Delmas A. Sanford

East Liverpool native son Delmas A. Sanford is a lifelong resident of the Dixonville area of his hometown. Born to the late Louis and Eunice Sanford, he graduated from East Liverpool High School in 1945.

Immediately following graduation, Sanford was drafted into World War II and served with the Occupation forces in Japan . While in the service, he joined the Christian Military Group known as the G.I. Gospel Band, which rebuilt bombed-out churches and homes.

Upon completion of his military service, he returned to East Liverpool and married his high school sweetheart, Doris Jean Goodman. The two have been married 57 years and to them were born three daughters, Mrs. David  (Renee) Willoughby , Mrs. Dan (Jelayne) Dray and Mrs. Richard (JoDell) Simons, and two sons, who are deceased.

They are the grandparents of a granddaughter and five grandsons. They also have a daughter-in-law, Mrs. Kevin (Christine) Sanford.

Sanford owned and operated Sanford and Son Plumbing Co. for 53 years. For many of those years, his son, Kevin, who passed away in 1998, worked as his partner in the business.

An active member of his hometown community, Sanford was a founder of the Community Rescue Mission and is its director emeritus. He has served as president of the East Liverpool Area Chamber of Commerce and chairman of the East Liverpool Christian businessmen’s Association, as well as a trustee of the East Liverpool City Hospital Board.

A director of the former First Federal Saving and Loan, he also was a member of the East Liverpool City School Board of Education and the Ohio School Board Association’s All-Regional Board.

A former member of the Columbiana County Health Board, he has served on the Salvation Army Advisory Board and along with his son, Kevin, co-chaired the telemarketing fund-raising committee for the East Liverpool High School Alumni Association Clock Tower building fund.

A member of the First Nazarene Church Board of Trustees, he has been as Sunday School superintendent and teacher. He also is a member of the Eastern Ohio District Church of the Nazarene Advisory Board and the Gideon Bible Society.

For many years, he has been an active participant of the annual Community Prayer Breakfast Committee.

For his efforts, Sanford was the 1985 recipient of the Jaycee’s Distinguished Service Award. In 1964, he received that organization’s Civic Service Award. In 1986, he was named a Morning Journal Citizen.

Sanford ’s Christian beliefs have led him to make 19 mission trips all over the world, where he has assisted in the construction of churches, schools and medical stations. On each of those trips, his group has distributed Bibles and scripture in native languages – 250,000 have distributed in Russia alone.

In 2002, Sanford and his wife, Dorie, traveled with 18 other men to the Amazon region in the jungles of Peru to build a church in honor and memory of their son, Kevin.

Frank Eck

Born and raised in Red Bank, N.J., Frank Eck earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering at the University of Notre Dame in 1944. The son of architect, Vincent J. Eck (N.D., Class of 1915), Eck also was a member of Notre Dame’s track team.

Upon his graduation, Eck enlisted in the U.S. Navy in the latter stages of World War II serving as a Lieutenant j.g. aboard a Landing Ship Tank (LST) in the Amphibious Forces. Following the Allied’s victory, Eck was accepted to the Harvard Business School and earned his MBA in 1949. Known as “Harvard Business School’s Most Successful Class” by author Lawrence Shames, Eck and many of his classmates went on to play pivotal roles in American industry.

 Eck began his business career in the petrochemical industry. In the mid-1950s, plastics were just starting to become an important raw material in supplying the growth of post-WWII America . Recognizing the significant potential plastics would have, Eck focused his efforts and held strategic marketing and management positions with then-industry leaders American Cyanamid Co.; Cosden Petrochemical Co. (a subsidiary of Fina Petrochemical); and Celanese Plastics Co., where he held the position of vice president and general manager.

In 1973, a relatively new company named Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. (ADS) recruited Eck as its vice president of sales and marketing. Founded in 1967, ADS introduced 3- to 6-inch plastic pipe to the United States used primarily for farm field drainage. Recognizing the need for an experienced leader, ADS soon named Eck as president with the challenge of expanding the company in this new industry. Over the past 30 years, Eck, now chairman and CEO, has taken ADS from a small, regional manufacturer serving the agricultural market, to the world’s largest producer of engineered plastic drainage pipe used primarily in the civil engineering industry. With 21 manufacturing facilities across the United States , ADS opened its first overseas operation in late 1999.

Eck continues to remain active with the University of Notre Dame. During the past 15 years, he has been a member of the Advisory Council for the College of Engineering . He is a loyal supporter, particularly of the Fighting Irish Football and Baseball programs. In 1988 he was inducted as an Honorary Member of the Monogram Club, and in 1992 was victorious head coach in the annual Blue and Gold game, having been invited to participate by then Coach Lou Holtz.

Eck’s generosity and continuing support to Notre Dame readily can be seen around the campus through his contributions to the Eck Tennis Center (built in 1987) and the Frank Eck Baseball Stadium (1994). In 1984, Eck presented a gift to establish a collection of Chemical Engineering books at the Hesburgh Library. Eck also is the principal benefactor of the Eck Center at Notre Dame (opened in the Spring of 1999), which houses the Hammes Book Store as well as the Alumni Association’s National Headquarters and Visitor’s Center.

This month Eck is due to receive the Sorin Award from Notre Dame, which annually recognizes an alumnus who has distinguished himself in support of the school and its objectives.

He also is a member of the Red Bank, N.J., Catholic High School Hall of Fame.

Eck is the father of four children including Frank, Jr. who is a 1989 graduate of the Notre Dame Law School , as well as a member of the Law School Advisory Council.