Tuesday, August 28, 2012
By Ed Runyan
NILES
Retired Judge Mitchell F. Shaker, who died Friday at age 90, was an intelligent and hard-working man whose actions had a significant effect on Trumbull County’s commercial development, governance and legal community.
“Mitch was an honor student as an undergraduate and in law school. He was an intelligent guy and a worker,” said Paul Heltzel, a Trumbull County commissioner and an attorney. “He could turn over stuff faster than other people.”
Heltzel said Shaker, who served as an attorney in private practice from 1948 to 1983 and served as a Trumbull County Common Pleas Court judge from 1983 to 1997, came to court prepared.
“A lot of the time, he knew what you were going to say before you said it,” Heltzel said of his recollections of Shaker as a judge. “He knew your case almost as well as you did.”
Heltzel said Shaker also set a standard that he believes current judges learned from because several worked in his courtroom.
“As a judge, he was efficient. He didn’t let things lay around. He made sure the attorneys complied as well,” Heltzel said.
That same attitude was evident during his 23 years in leadership positions within the Trumbull County Democratic Party prior to becoming a judge, Heltzel said.
“At that time, the party had its appointments lined up in advance when someone retired or when there was a death. He was never at a loss. He planned things out,” Heltzel said.
Anthony Cafaro Sr., former president of the Cafaro Co., developers of the Eastwood Mall complex in Niles, said Shaker’s work as law director for the city of Niles was crucial to the development of Eastwood Mall in the 1960s.
“If it weren’t for Judge Shaker, the Eastwood Complex as we know it today would not exist,” Cafaro said. He “played an important role in the annexation of this project to Niles, which opened the door for the mall.”
Added Cafaro, “Mitchell Shaker was a visionary, but he also possessed the determination and skills needed to transform his vision into reality.”
“The Cafaro family has always viewed him as a friend, and we have great respect and love for him,” he said.
Judge Shaker served by assignment from the Ohio Supreme Court in other counties after retiring from the Trumbull common pleas court. When he completed that work in 2002, he joined his sons, Christopher and Robert at their law firm, Shaker and Shaker LLP of Niles, until 2009.
Judge Shaker died at home in Niles.