COVERT, JOHN CUTLER (11 Feb. 1837-14 Jan. 1919) answered to the callings of journalist, politician, diplomat, and civic leader during a lifetime of 8 decades. He was born in Norwick, NY and brought in his youth to Cleveland, where he learned the printing trade in the job office of Timothy Snead and EDWIN COWLES. His education was supplemented by a residence of 7 years in Europe where he traveled and learned several languages. He returned to Cleveland and in 1868 became a reporter for Cowles' CLEVELAND LEADER, where he advanced through the positions of editorial writer, associate editor, and managing editor, to succeed to the editorship upon the death of Cowles in 1890. Covert also served 2 terms in the Ohio House of Representatives and during the national election of 1896 published a volume entitled The A.B.C. of Finances. President Wm. McKinley appointed him U.S. consul at Marsailles in 1897, which took him to France for the following 12 years. Transferred later to Lyons, Covert was decorated by the French government for his lectures on literature and America. He returned to spend his final decade in Cleveland where he was honored as the founding president of both the PRESS CLUB OF CLEVELAND (1887) and the ROWFANT CLUB (1892). As a member of the EARLY SETTLERS ASSN., he had sponsored the original resolution leading to the observance of the Cleveland Centennial in 1896 (see CLEVELAND ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS). Although married, he was survived by no children.
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