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Pérez appointed as
UT Trustee, replacing Velásquez
By Kevin Milliken for La Prensa
Ohio Gov. John Kasich has appointed a former Toledo Latino to
the University of Toledo Board of Trustees for a term that runs
through 2020. Juan José (“John”) Pérez, now a Columbus
attorney, replaces Baldemar Velásquez, founder and
president of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC), whose
term recently expired.
“I am very excited to be making a contribution to the university
and since it’s my alma mater, I’m looking forward to working
with my school again,” he said.
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Juan
José (“John”) Pérez |
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Pérez is a graduate of the
University of Toledo College of Law. He served as a federal law
clerk to late U.S. District Court Judge Nicholas J. Walinski
while still living in Toledo until 1987, when he joined a
Columbus law firm where he later became a partner. Pérez also
served for three years as general counsel and vice president of
administration for a publicly-traded, international company in
Columbus.
Pérez became a founding partner
in a law practice in 1997, which later became Pérez & Morris,
LLC, the only Latino-owned law firm in Central Ohio. According
to a bio on the firm’s website, his main practice is commercial
and construction litigation, including large loss property
recoveries, where he has achieved successful jury verdicts and
arbitration/mediation results, including many in excess of $1
million. Pérez has many Latino clients and offers bilingual
services.
“The obligation is to all students, make sure they are
well-educated and have an opportunity to excel,” he said. “I do,
however, being Latino, bring that perspective to the table and
know the culture. I can help the university get some perspective
on that.”
Pérez, 55, has received the Distinguished Hispanic Ohioan award
from the Ohio Commission on Hispanic/Latino Affairs (OCHLA).
His law firm for many years has sponsored
El Día de Los Reyes Magos (The Day of Three Kings), a toy drive in Central
Ohio by the Ohio Hispanic Coalition (OHCO) to provide
toys during the holidays to 2,000 underprivileged kids. He also
has assisted with a drive to provide toys and blankets to
children hospitalized in the poorest of hospitals located in
Guadalajara, México. An OCHLA bio called him “a dedicated Latino
community advocate, leader, mentor and advisor.
Pérez himself comes from humble beginnings. He is the son of
migrant farmworkers, helping his parents pick vegetables as a
child. His father only obtained a sixth grade education and his
mother only attended elementary school.
“My parents were always very much in favor of education,” he
said. “They were always committed to us graduating from high
school and attending college. In fact, I was the first person in
my family to graduate from high school and go on to college, so
that prompting toward education has carried over to our kids.”
Pérez is certainly no stranger to assisting the cause of higher
education. He even participated in a recent study of 20
Latino entrepreneurs in the Columbus area for a student’s
doctoral dissertation. The author concluded that hard work,
perseverance, personal sacrifice, and autonomy are important
cultural traits common to successful Latino entrepreneurs such
as
Pérez.
“This new economy, in my opinion, there are two things that are
going to get you success,” he said. “One is a good education and
the other is hard work. So I want to be involved with the
students and ensuring that happens, make sure they get a good
education like I got and go out in the world and be successful.”
Pérez, who is of Mexican descent,
and his wife, Joan, have three adult sons: John, Jr., an
attorney in Columbus; Jonas, who obtained his doctorate and now
works for a medical device firm in Atlanta; and Jamie, who works
in the landscaping industry in Columbus.
He returns to Toledo often, because his mother Alamar and sister
Adalia continue to run the family business, La Paloma Bakery,
and still has aunts, uncles, nephews, and nieces living here.
His father, who passed away last year at age 76, established the
business as the first Mexican pastry store in Toledo in 1987.
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