MAYFIELD HEIGHTS, Ohio — Longtime City Councilman Robert DeJohn has announced that he has retired from his two jobs, resigned from council, and moved with his wife to Texas.
During Monday’s Sept. 9 meeting, DeJohn’s daughter, Mayfield Heights resident Teresa DeJohn, read to council a letter he had written announcing his departure from the city and from council.
Addressed to Mayfield Heights residents, DeJohn said he was announcing his resignation with a “heavy heart” and stated that he had moved to Texas to be closer to his son and his son’s family.
“It has been an honor to serve the constituents of this city for the last 10-plus years,” Teresa DeJohn read from her father’s letter. “The last name DeJohn and Mayfield Heights have been intertwined for the last 72 years. This started when my father, Ross C. DeJohn, moved into the city in 1952.”
Ross C. DeJohn was elected to City Council in 1962, and mayor in 1964. The late DeJohn served as mayor until his retirement in 1993. The city named its since- replaced community center in Ross C. DeJohn’s honor. The new community center opened earlier this year on the same Marsol Road property as the last center.
“He is the longest-serving mayor in the history of the city and oversaw unprecedented growth that put Mayfield Heights at the top of the list of east side Cleveland suburbs,” the letter stated.
Robert DeJohn continued by stating, “I’d be remiss if I did not say how much it pains me that the promise was not kept to put my dad’s name on the new community center after his many years of service to the city.
“I aspired to be like my dad by putting the constituents first and continuously keeping your best interests in mind.”
Noting that council will have 45 days to interview residents interested in filling his place on council for the remaining one-and-a-half years of his expired term, DeJohn recommended that council appoint former councilwoman Gayle Teresi to take his seat.
Teresi, who served the past 12 consecutive years on council, was not permitted to run for re-election in 2023 due to the city’s three-consecutive- term limit.
In all, DeJohn said Teresi has served more than 15 years as a councilwoman and “served the constituents diligently.”
He further said of Teresi, ”There is no one who understands the city better, and the issues at hand. Gayle has my full endorsement and is truly the best candidate for the position.”
DeJohn went on the thank the city’s residents for giving him “the opportunity to represent you as a member of Mayfield Heights City Council.”
“I will miss my daily interactions with you,” he wrote, “and listening to the things you care about the most.
“My one ask is you continue paying attention to the decisions made on your behalf. If there is something you disagree with, please speak up.
“Always remember that the mayor and City Council represent you, and your opinions matter.”
DeJohn said that he will “watch from afar and wish for the best for this great city and its residents.”
When contacted by phone on Thursday (Sept. 12), DeJohn said he and his wife of 41 years, Lori, are living outside Austin in Dripping Springs, Texas. His son, Booby, and his daughter-in-law live in Austin and are expecting next spring their first child. It will be DeJohn’s first grandchild.
Speaking of his decision to leave Mayfield Heights, DeJohn said, “It was a hard decision, but I was having a difficult time there on council. It didn’t seem like I was making a difference.
“They tore my dad’s building (former community center) down and spent all that money ($34 million for the new community center and aquatic center) on the new facility, which I thought should have gone into infrastructure. And I couldn’t get anyone (on council) to think like I was thinking. I was very disappointed by all that.
“And I was also disappointed when they made that Memory Wall at the new community center, you can’t even find my father’s picture on the wall. Nobody can tell it’s him. That was just another slap in the face.”
Of his work during his two-plus terms on council, DeJohn said, ”I was an open and transparent guy. I believe in telling the truth and being open with people. Maybe they weren’t going to like what they heard, but they should know and then let them make their decisions from there. I don’t think a lot of the other council people were that way.
“I’m an open and transparent person and I’m honest with people. That’s just the way I live my life.”
DeJohn, 69, who grew up in Mayfield Heights, retired from his job of 30 years as a funeral director for DeJohn Funeral Homes and Crematory, operated by his brother, Ross, Jr., and nephew, Ross, III. He also retired from a job he held the past five years as a funeral and burial pre-planner with the Catholic Cemeteries Association.
DeJohn said he plans to use his funeral certification in Texas to seek a job in the field.
Council President Diane Snider said council has 45 days from DeJohn’s resignation (until Oct. 24) to accept applications from residents interested in filling DeJohn’s vacated seat, interview those applicants, and then choose his successor.
If council fails to choose its next colleague, Mayor Anthony DiCicco will choose the next council member.
The last time council interviewed applicants for a vacant seat was October, 2021, when it selected a former councilman Nino Monaco (who is now no longer on council) to fill the seat of the late Donna Finney.
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