YMCA names president, trustee and honoree

YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown YMCA Board of Trustee has elected John H. (Jay) Yerian Jr. of Poland as president of the YMCA, and the membership has elected Julius Livas of Youngstown to the board of trustees.

Yerian, a member of the board since 1973, has served on the executive committee and has been treasurer for several years. He was named to the post at the Jan. 28 meeting of the board.

An honors graduate of Princeton University, Yerian earned a master’s degree in architecture at Washington University Graduate School of Design in St. Louis and worked for Minoru Yamasaki design team for the World Trade Center.

Yerian and his brother, David, owned and operated Moreman- Yerian Insurance Agency from 1972 until they sold the firm to First Federal of Boardman in 2000. They continue with the agency, now First Place Insurance.

Currently Yerian is vice president of Mahoning Valley Historical Society and a member of Poland Village Architectural Review Board, Youngstown Rotary Club, the Neurological Institute Leadership Board at Cleveland Clinic and Camp Fitch Advisory Board. He belongs to Duquesne Hunting and Fishing Club in Britt, Ontario; Rockwell Springs Trout Club; and Pine Lake Trout Club.

Yerian is a past member of the Salvation Army advisory board and Mahoning County Tuberculosis Board, past president of Youngstown Symphony Society and past board member of Leadership Mahoning Valley. He was also a class agent for annual giving for Princeton and was clerk of sessions at Poland Presbyterian Church, where he is an ordained elder.

His wife of 36 years, Nancy, died in 2004. In June 2007 he married Susan Dicken, recently retired executive director of Mill Creek MetroParks. Completing their family are four children and three grandchildren.

Yerian will serve as chairman of the executive committee of the board, and his associate officers will be C. Robert Buchanan, Thomas Fleming, Howard Friend and James B. Green, vice chairmen; William Bigelow, secretary/assistant treasurer; Greg Kleeh, treasurer; Atty. Thomas J. Lodge, past president; and Kenneth Rudge, chief executive officer.

Also elected

At the Dec. 12 YMCA membership meeting, Julius Livas of Boardman was elected to the board of trustees and will complete the remaining two-year term of late Raymond Brown.

Livas graduated from South High School as class president, member of the National Honor Society, and member of the All-City football and basketball teams. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Bowling Green State University. He was an official at high school football games in 1978 and became a collegiate official 11 years later. He works in the Big Ten Football Conference and has officiated in six Bowl games.

Livas has been employed 30 years at Allstate Insurance in Boardman. He and his wife of 34 years, Sheila, have two children. They have been YMCA members for more than 30 years.

Earns recognition

C. Robert Buchanan of Poland, a member of the board since 1976, will be honored by his peers as Volunteer of the Year at an annual YMCA meeting on March 31.

He was elected to the executive committee and served as president from 1993 to 1996, and remained past president until 2007.

A graduate of the University of Idaho with a degree in architecture after being awarded a four-year Holloway Scholarship by the U.S. Navy, he was then commissioned as an officer in the Navy, serving aboard ships in Korea, Japan, China, Alaska, the Philippines and Vietnam, plus two tours on the Eniwetok atoll, testing atomic and hydrogen bombs. He was the recipient of special commendations, citations and service ribbons.

Buchanan moved to Youngstown and formed a partnership known as Buchanan, Ricciuti and Balog, which designed many of the major buildings in the Mahoning Valley. The firm also drew the plans for the construction of the 1979 addition to the downtown YMCA Central Branch, its handicapped entrance and the outdoor recreation center at the Davis Family YMCA In Boardman.

An accomplished watercolor painter, he has taught painting in the special studies program at the Chautauqua Institution in Western New York.

He and his wife, Nan, live in Poland and are the parents of four and grandparents of six.