By Kaitlin Durbin, cleveland.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Amazon fulfillment center in North Randall – and the thousands of jobs it supports – wouldn’t exist without Gus Frangos.
Neither would the Children’s Museum in Cleveland, the Fisher House, which supports family members of hospitalized veterans and military members, or hundreds of other businesses and family homes that have benefited from the Cuyahoga County land bank that Frangos founded.
His work is everywhere, longtime friend Jim Rokakis said, and “it’s an incredible legacy” for which he feels Frangos never got the credit he deserved before he died unexpectedly Saturday, at the age of 69.
Frangos later wrote the law that made that dream possible, not only for Cuyahoga, but for 70 other counties across the state that now operate land banks. Rokakis was the county’s treasurer at the time and made 22 trips to Columbus with Frangos to get the law passed and, in 2020, co-authored a book detailing, “The Land Bank Revolution: How Ohio’s Communities Fought Back Against the Foreclosure Crisis.”
“These aren’t just houses,” he said. “They represent stability, opportunity and a foundation for brighter futures for five families.”
Frangos’ “heart was with the community,” agreed Ricardo León, the land bank’s chief operating officer, who was named interim president after Frangos’ passing. “All he cared about was community.”
The land bank, earlier this year, was also awarded $10 million in funding from Cleveland City Council to build and renovate homes in Cleveland’s Central, Collinwood, Clark-Fulton and Glenville neighborhoods. León said it’s the first new investment those areas will have seen “in quite a while.”
“The reality is, we wouldn’t be here without him,” León said. “His impact is immeasurable.”
Read the full story on Cleveland.com HERE.