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Longtime Champion, TCTC school board member dies at 79
By Ed Runyan
CHAMPION
Pamela Hood, superintendent of Champion schools, says Roger Samuelson, who served on the school board for more than 25 years, “will be missed more than words can express.”
Samuelson, 79, who died Tuesday at the Cleveland Clinic, “was committed to the students, parents, staff and the community,” Hood said.
He was also very proud of the accomplishments of the school district, its marching band, sports programs and “loved the students and the staff and knew everyone in the school community,” Hood said.
But as much as he loved Champion, he also was “very committed and passionate about public education” in general, said Mary Williams of Cortland, who served with him the past 10 years on the Trumbull Career and Technical Center Board of Education.
Samuelson served on the TCTC board for 19 years and served as legislative liaison for TCTC and the county school board, which meant he traveled to Columbus to lobby state legislators on behalf of public schools and also spoke with legislators on the federal level, Williams said.
His willingness to serve at the state and national level also resulted in serving on the Ohio School Boards Association, which in 2011 named him one of the five choices to the “All-Ohio School Board.”
He was extensively involved in the OSBA, serving as a member of the board of trustees and serving on several committees, the organization said in a 2011 news release. He also was honored by the National School Boards Association.
Samuelson, who retired from Packard Electric, was a Champion High School graduate.
Though he was a true Champion fan and wore purple shirts to TCTC board meetings to show his Champion pride, he also attended numerous TCTC activities to support TCTC students.