Joe Schiavoni to lecture at McGuffey Society event

Staff report

LIBERTY

Ohio Sen. Joe Schiavoni is the next lecturer in the Memories of a Lifetime series, presented by the McGuffey Historical Society. He will speak at 10 a.m. Saturday in the meeting room at Kravitz’s Deli, 3135 Belmont Ave.

Admission is $6 ($5 for society members). There will be a raffle to benefit the society, and music by Dolores DePietro. Reservations are suggested; call 330-726-8277.

Schiavoni grew up on the South Side of Youngstown before moving to Boardman, where he graduated from Boardman High School. Taking after his father, he spent his free time in the boxing ring and won the Golden Gloves tournament in Youngstown in 1995.

He attended Ohio University, and earned his law degree from Capital University.

Following in the footsteps of his grandfather and father, he went to work representing injured workers at the law firm of Schiavoni, Schiavoni, Bush and Muldowney. In 2008, he was appointed to a vacant seat,in the Ohio Senate, and was elected to a four-year term in 2010 and re-elected in 2014.

As a legislator, Schiavoni has been a champion for workers, fighting to repeal Senate Bill 5, which stripped away collective bargaining rights for Ohio’s public workers.

He is a member of Big Brothers and Big Sisters of the Mahoning Valley, the Mahoning County Bar Association, Curbstone Coaches, the local Farm Bureau, Boardman Civic Association, Italian-American Education Foundation, and the Legends of Leather Boxing Organization.

Schiavoni represents the 33rd Senate District, which encompasses all of Columbiana and Mahoning Counties. In 2013, his colleagues unanimously elected him the Democratic leader of the Senate. He plans to return to private law practice when his current term is finished.