William R. Van Aken

William Russell Van Aken (December 1, 1912 - September 28, 1993) was an American lawyer and politician from Ohio. [cite encyclopedia|title=Van Aken, William Russell|encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History|url=http://ech.case.edu/ech-cgi/article.pl?id=VAWR]

Biography

He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to Florence (Swallow) and William J. Van Aken, a former mayor and influential citizen of Shaker Heights, Ohio. He graduated from Shaker Heights High School in 1930 and received his B.S. from Lafayette College in 1934 and his LL.B. from Western Reserve University Law College in 1937. He then was admitted to the bar in the same year, and operated his law office of Van Aken & Bond until his retirement in 1987.

A Republican, Van Aken was a member of the Ohio House of Representatives (1943-1944 and 1947-1948), the Shaker Heights City Council (1951-1955), and the Ohio Republican Party central and executive committees. He was president of the Ohio Bar Association (1958-1959) and co-founder of the National Conference of Bar Foundations.

He wrote "Ohio Real Estate Law and Practice" (1985), with Robert Hauser, and "Buckeye Barristers" (1980), a history of the Ohio Bar Association.

He married Dorothy Harrison in 1940 and had four children, Nancy, Mary Alice, Louise and William. He was a member of the Church of the Western Reserve, and was buried in Cleveland's Lake View Cemetery.

References

Persondata
NAME = Van Aken, William Russell
ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
SHORT DESCRIPTION = lawyer and politician
DATE OF BIRTH = December 1, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH = Cleveland, Ohio, United States
DATE OF DEATH = September 28, 1993
PLACE OF DEATH = Shaker Heights, Ohio, United States