A public memorial to honor Summit County Executive Russ Pry will take place at 10 a.m. Aug. 13 at the John S. Knight Center in downtown Akron.
The memorial will be followed by a Celebration of Life from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Tangier, 532 W. Market St., Akron.
Pry, 58, died Sunday. He had been battling colon cancer, which was diagnosed in June.
County officials said at Pry’s direction, there will not be a funeral service or calling hours.
Pry wanted to be cremated and buried immediately, with a memorial held at a later date, said Jason Dodson, Summit County’s chief of staff. Hopkins Lawver Funeral Home is handling the arrangements.
In lieu of flowers, donations in Pry’s name can be made to the American Cancer Society or the Visiting Nurse Service.
As memorial plans for Pry were being finalized, the Summit County Democratic Party on Wednesday also announced plans for filling the vacancies left by his unexpected death.
Summit County Council President Ilene Shapiro was sworn in as executive at her home Sunday evening, immediately after Pry’s death. The county’s charter provides for the council president to become executive in the event the executive dies or leaves office.
This has happened only one other time — in the summer of 2007 when Summit County Councilman Nick Kostandaras, then the council president, briefly replaced Summit County Executive Jim McCarthy after McCarthy resigned, according to Dodson.
Because Shapiro took over as county executive, Kostandaras, currently the council’s vice president, will become president next week when the Summit County Council meets again after its summer break.
The Summit County Democratic Party Central Committee will meet at 7 p.m. Aug. 11 at North High School in Akron to nominate a replacement for Pry as the party’s candidate on the Nov. 8 ballot to run against Republican Bill Roemer for county executive.
At the same meeting, the party will officially appoint someone to fill in as county executive until the end of the current term that expires Dec. 31.
Shapiro, who announced her plans to run for county executive Saturday after Pry said he decided against seeking re-election because of his health, is expected to be the person chosen by the party to both fill the vacancy and run in the Nov. 8 election.
If the appointment at the Aug. 11 meeting leaves a vacancy in a Summit County Council at-large seat, as would in the case with Shapiro’s appointment, the Democratic Party will hold another meeting at 7 p.m. Aug. 17 at the same place to appoint a temporary replacement and nominate someone to run for the council seat in November.
By law, 144 of 287 Central Committee members must be present at the meeting to vote on and nominate the party’s candidate in the general election. In addition, 50 members must be present to appoint someone to fill a vacancy in a countywide office.
Nominees must win the majority of votes of members present.