August has brought sad news to advocates of historic preservation in the Buckeye State with the passing of both Congressman John F. Seiberling and Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones.

Congresswoman Tubbs Jones was a long-time champion of preservation and preservation-based community revitalization, and a member of Congress‘ Historic Preservation Caucus.  Her record included the recent sponsorship and passage of the Community Restoration and Rehabilitation Act, legislation which provided the first substantive changes to the Federal Rehabilitation Tax Credit since 1978 -- all of which make the credit more useful for renovating historic properties across the country.  We will profile those important changes in our next entry.

Eight-term Congressman John Seiberling from Akron was a lover and advocate of America’s National Parks, as well as the country’s built history.  Seiberling was a 2002 recipient of the Louise du Pont Crowninshield Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation for a legislative record that included establishment of the Historic Preservation Fund.  This Fund distributes grants each year to hundreds of American communities, leveraging other monies and resulting in substantial preservation successes.

Ohio can be justly proud of these two public servants who not only worked to better Ohio’s quality of life and economic future through historic preservation, but whose work benefited preservation efforts across the entire country.