Biographies: Helen Moss

Helen Moss, Founder and Managing Trustee

Education:

After being a homemaker and having four children Helen realized a dream she never thought possible. Under President Lyndon Johnson the government started granting Government loans to students. At the age of 29 in 1966, Helen took advantage of this entitlement and started college at Kent State University and ended up with a scholarship graduating from the University of Akron with a Liberal Arts degree in English in 1970 summa cum laude and first in her graduating class. She subsequently taught English at the University of Akron and attended graduate and law school.

Women’s Movement

However, the women’s movement beckoned and Helen founded the Akron Chapter of the National Organization of Women in 1971 whose particular goal was to open up high paying professional jobs to women. Helen found herself in the situation of being a single parent with four children to raise. She became involved deeply in politics and was hired by the Teamster’s Union in 1971 through 1975 where she claims that she received 10 years experience in toughness in three years. She claims that she could not have survived the first few years at Merrill Lynch without this “combat” training.

Merrill Lynch

She had wanted to become a stock broker since 1971, and got her opportunity when Merrill Lynch lost an EEOC suit and was forced to hire women in 1975.

She received her training in the financial district of New York City. Because of production growth over the years, eventually became a Vice President in 1983 after only eight years and became a member of Merrill Lynch’s “Chairman’s Club,” a group of top-producing financial consultants on the national level. She said that she succeeded because she did not have a choice as her goal was to educate four children and that means a good income. One manager said to her that he thought she should quit because no one liked her. She said, "If you put a dagger at my heart and say 'Quit or drive it in,' you would have to drive it in or fire me." He did neither. Her relationship with the company over the years led to respect on the part of both parties. She said that she would never have worked for any other brokerage firm than Merrill because it was the very best in its concern for the service to the client who always came first.

Elected Official in the Village of Bratenahl

Immediately after treatment for metastatic breast cancer, in 2002 she ran and won a seat on the Bratenahl Village Council. Asked why she did this, she said that her husband, worried that she needed to take her mind off the seriousness of her disease, told her to run for public office because “You will make a difference in our Community.”

Founded the Helen Moss Breast Cancer Research Foundation in 2000.

After discovering and experiencing the toxic and debilitating effects of cancer treatment, she swore that if she could help even one woman and her family experience less pain and suffering from cancer, she would devote the rest of her life to making a difference in people’s lives.

First Woman admitted to previously all-male boards and Clubs 1975 to 1983

First woman admitted to the all-male Akron City Club (read paper). First woman on the Board of the Junior Achievement of Summit, Portage, Medina, Wayne Counties, first woman President in Akron of a major arts organization, the Ohio Ballet and the Akron Executives Association. She also says that she was blackballed to Portage Country Club, Fairlawn Country Club, and Firestone Country Club. She never fought it because there were other things to do that were more important. “You must pick and choose your battles.”

Community leadership in Akron

Her greatest achievement in the early days was when she was President of Ohio Ballet Board of Trustees 1982-1985 during which time the Ohio Ballet became nationally known, touring the United States, and invited to Spoleto, Italy, South America and Jacobs Pillow and performed in New York City bi-annually. In 1985, the board under Helen’s direction raised one million dollars in contributed income. She chaired four benefits for the Ohio Ballet, the last benefit netting $100,000.

As trustee, she chaired the 1979 Summit County March of Dimes Walk-a-thon grossing over $70,000. As a trustee for the Summit County Arthritis Foundation, chaired a luncheon on Secretary’s Day, 1986. She chaired a neighborhood organization to beautify a two-mile stretch of West Market Street in Akron. As trustee of the Akron Civic Theatre, she was instrumental in saving the theater. She accomplished this with the help of heir to the Roadway Express fortune, Ruth Roush.

Appointments

She was appointed to the Ohio Arts Council by Governor Celeste in 1986, and served for six years. She was also appointed to the Akron Mayor’s Committee to make recommendations for the Mayor’s cabinet in 1983. She has most recently (2004) been appointed to serve on the executive board of the Cuyahoga Democratic Party.

In Cleveland

Helen moved to Cleveland in 1987 after marrying Richard Fleischman, a renowned Cleveland architect.

As a trustee, she chaired the Cleveland Music School Settlement benefit at the Cleveland Music Hall. She then became a trustee for the Great Lakes Theater Festival and chaired a benefit that raised $100,000 in an old rundown mansion on the lake in Bratenahl, which she and her husband subsequently bought and restored. She also became a trustee of Cleveland Ballet and the Cleveland Opera as well as a trustee and Treasurer of the Cleveland Modern Art Society of the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Graduated from the Leadership Cleveland Class of 1988

Recognitions for Community Activity and Professional Excellence

Helen was featured in Cleveland Magazine in March of 1994 as a model mentor for businesswomen. She was featured in Northern Ohio Live in 1992 as a successful businesswoman who was a pioneer in her profession. She was included in Cleveland Magazine's 1995 list of the100 most influential women in Cleveland. She received an Honorable Mention by Northern Ohio Live in 1986 for leadership in a Community Project. She was also elected in 1985 by Northern Ohio Live to receive its annual award for chairing the best benefit in northeast Ohio, for an Ohio Ballet benefit. She was featured in an Akron Beacon Journal's special supplement in January 1986 as one of 86 community leaders in Summit County. In 1985, she was identified and featured in Northern Ohio Live in an issue about the city of Akron, as one of the most influential people in the community.

Family

After being single for 16 years while raising four children, she presently has been married to highly regarded architect Richard Fleischman for 16 years . Three of her four children live and work in the Cleveland area. She is a devoted grandmother, and is dedicated to being a role model for her grandchildren. Includec in her family is her mother, Frances Smith, who has lived with her and her husband for the past 6 years.