Henry X. Kutash (1907-1996) was an attorney, sportsman, and Jewish community leader. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and graduated from East High School (1923), Adelbert College (1927), and Western Reserve University School of Law (1929). He graduated law school first in his class and ranked first in the state on the bar exam that year. He was a partner in the firm Bernon, Keeley and Kutash until his naval service, beginning in 1943. After serving in the Naval Reserves in the Office of General Counsel, he returned to Cleveland in 1946 and joined the law firm Jones, Day, Cockley & Reavis. At Jones, Day, Kutash practiced estate administration, corporate law, and litigation; he was a partner until he retired in 1973. From the beginning of his law career he was active on committees of the Cleveland Bar Association and was a trustee of the Cleveland Law Library Association.
As a sportsman he was an active sailor, who raced at the Mentor Harbor Yachting Club. In the Jewish community he taught Sunday school at The Temple-Tifereth Israel beginning in the late 1920s and was a volunteer counselor at Camp Wise in the 1930s. After World War II he served on the boards of trustees and committees of many organizations, including the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland, the Jewish Convalescent Hospital, Mt. Sinai Hospital, and the Jewish Family Service Association.
The Henry Kutash Papers (1924-1987) consist of correspondence, certificates, brochures, financial records, minutes, reports, and notes.
The collection is of value to researchers seeking information about lawyers and Jewish community activists in general, and in Cleveland, Ohio, in particular. Of note are the records of some of the organizations which Kutash served as a board of trustees member, including the Cleveland Bar Association, the Cleveland Law Library Association, the Jewish Community Council, the Jewish Convalescent Hospital, the Mentor Harbor Yachting Club and its Thistle Class Association, Mount Sinai Hospital of Cleveland, and the Temple-Tifereth Israel. Kutash kept meticulous records of all of his expenses. Researchers seeking information about the lifestyle of a professional man and lawyer from the 1930s to the 1960s will find the collection of expense accounts illuminating.
The collection has been arranged in two series. Both series are arranged alphabetically by subject, and then chronologically.
All photographs have been removed to the photograph and print collection.
Processed by Jane A. Avner in 1999.
None.
[Container ___, Folder ___ ] MS 4799 Henry X. Kutash Papers, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio
David Guralnik, 1996.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.