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OCTOBER 23, 2020
TRIBUTE TO HARLAN DIAMOND
Diamond was a precious gem in catering business for 70 years JANE KAUFMAN | STAFF REPORTER @jkaufmanCJN jkaufman@cjn.org |
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he son of a doctor, Harlan Diamond credited a restaurateur uncle with giving him his first break in the business. With partner Bill Metz, Sam Diamond owned seven Tasty Shops in Greater Cleveland, and he hired Harlan Diamond to be a counter man during Harlan Diamond’s college days. On his first day on the job, he drank the last milk available to soothe his ulcers, leaving none for a customer’s milkshake. The manager fired him. His uncle placed him at a different shop, where Diamond later became head dishwasher. “And then I asked my uncle if I can become a pot washer,” Diamond said. “And he said, ‘What do you mean a pot washer? Who wants to wash pots?’” Diamond said he wanted to learn about the business and that cooks trained pot washers, not waiters. “And next thing you know, I was going with him on all of his appointments, setting up parties, booking business,” Diamond said. “He taught me how to order and how to work the worksheets.” His uncle, he said, taught him not to compromise on quality or quality of service. “One of the things I learned from my uncle,” he said. “You quote a price. And the price then goes out the window. You do the party. No matter what the party is, no matter what you quoted, you do the party to the best of your ability.” Diamond, who stood at the helm of Executive Caterers at Landerhaven in Mayfield Heights, sold the building after 70 years in the catering business. Driftwood Restaurants & Catering bought the building and site Aug. 31 for $2.5 million in a deal that did not include the catering business. From his Bratenahl apartment, with views of his beloved native city to the west and Lake Erie to the north, he recently spoke to the Cleveland Jewish News about his career.
“I’m proud of all the generations of people that worked for us. People bring their great-grandson to introduce him to me. I’m pretty proud of that. We’ve had generations of families work for us.” Harlan Diamond
EARLY YEARS AND FIRST JOB Diamond had other jobs prior to his uncle’s restaurant. His first was shoveling snow and mowing lawns in University Heights and Shaker Heights, because the tips were better. His second was as a page at the Cleveland HeightsUniversity Heights library system. He was good enough to be loaned to the main branch of the Cleveland Public Library, a place he called magical. He also worked for Korman’s Restaurant on East 9th Street in Cleveland as a captain. Diamond’s first years were spent in the Glenville neighborhood in his maternal grandmother’s home, which housed three families. In his early childhood during the Depression, Diamond’s grandmother, Matilda Rosen, fed most of the people on the street dinner in shifts lasting from 6 p.m. to midnight. His parents both grew up on that street, South Boulevard, and had known each other as children. Diamond liked all of his jobs and has always liked working, partly because of the independence it afforded him. He celebrated his bar mitzvah at the then-new Park Synagogue in Cleveland Heights in 1947. After graduating from Cleveland Heights High School, he studied management at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Fla., for a single semester. A bar fight in which he pulled a knife from the back of a Marine ended his Florida studies. MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE He returned home and studied psychology at Western Reserve University in Cleveland and got a job catering, again with his uncle at Park Synagogue, where he spotted a woman he described as cute by the name of Sue Weinstein. The two were married in 1958 and had a daughter, Michelle. They divorced about five years later. Diamond married a second time, Harriet Bubis, a second marriage for both, and divorced in 1973. He had a 30-year companion in Jane Belsito, who was vice president of catering at Executive Caterers. She died in 2010. Michelle married Jim Baker and lives in Fort Collins, Colo. The couple has two sons giving Diamond two grandsons, Cameron and Andy. HOW HE STARTED Diamond began his first catering business from his mother’s basement on Channing Road in University Heights. His mother, Babe Diamond, kicked him out of the house and into the garage because his business was not kosher. Decades later, she helped out her son in business, and he quipped she was a better truck driver than he. “Let’s put it this way: I was in the industry for
DIAMOND | 42
Harlan Diamond sold Landerhaven, the destination banquet hall, to Driftwood Restaurants and Catering after 70 years in business. He credits his employees for creating elegance. | CJN Photo / Jane Kaufman
42 | CLEVELAND JEWISH NEWS | CJN.ORG DIAMOND | 41 70 years,” he said. “Sixty years, I was in business for myself.” With two business partners, Phil Kaufman and Willie Kahn, both seasoned bar and restaurant owners, the three operated Park Lane Villa on East 107th Street as a bar, restaurant and catering operation. “I think we put up $400 each or $600 each, I can’t remember, and we went in business and the rest is history,” Diamond said. In 1960, Diamond moved the catering operation to the Executive Club on Chagrin Boulevard in Woodmere. He called the company Executive Caterers, holding events on site. Later, when the owners of the building ran into financial straits, he bought the building from the bank. At the health facilities which the Executive Club had at the time, members of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Indians and Cleveland Browns worked out, and Diamond said he brought the Nautilus system to Cleveland. On a parallel track, Diamond was catering at many synagogues in Cleveland, but stopped doing that catering after buying Landerhaven Country Club in Mayfield Heights in 1983.
“I think we put up $400 each or $600 each, I can’t remember, and we went in business and the rest is history.” Harlan Diamond
OCTOBER 23, 2020 PURCHASING LANDERHAVEN When he bought Landerhaven, Diamond said the venue nearly sunk him. “Landerhaven was never a success,” he said of the country club. “All the previous operators there went broke. We were on the verge of it too.” As configured, he said, Landerhaven had too little usable space for a caterer to turn a profit. He asked the city of Mayfield Heights for permission to reconfigure the property and ended up in court over the zoning. “We showed the court that we can take down 5,000 square feet and add 30,000 square feet and we can have a building that would be profitable,” he said. He won and built that venue. In 1986, the groundbreaking was held for the multimillion dollar expansion Diamond envisioned, which included Landerhaven’s ballroom, a flexible space with a movable wall that seats close to a thousand. “We broke the zoning out there,” said Diamond, leading to development of the surrounding corporate park. In 1989, the Mayfield Heights mayor’s advisory committee awarded Executive Caterers at Landerhaven a beautification award for landscaping features, including a pond and waterfall at what became the destination banquet hall. KOSHER CATERING It was a call from then-Jewish Federation of Cleveland President Stephen H. Hoffman that spurred Diamond to re-enter kosher catering about 15 to 20 years ago. “I started as a kosher caterer,” he said. “I came
We are proud to honor a past Tree of LifeTM Honoree and true friend to Jewish National Fund.
Thank you Harlan for all you have done for Jewish National Fund and the greater Jewish community.
jnf.org · 800.JNF.0099
HARLAN DIAMOND
Harlan Diamond brought his Irish wolfhound Connor to work with him. The dog was the fourth of Diamond’s wolfhounds. | Submitted photo
from a kosher home. I grew up in my grandmother’s house. That was kosher. My mother kept a kosher home after my grandmother passed away. I knew kashruth and I respected it.” Diamond said he initially didn’t do kosher catering at Landerhaven because he did not keep shomer Shabbos, meaning he worked during the Sabbath. Hoffman told Diamond, “We need you to become a kosher caterer. If you’d like, we’ll finance it,” recalled Diamond, adding he turned down the offer to underwrite the cost, but that he would appreciate business referrals. To cater on site, Diamond formed a company called L’echaim Kosher Caterers, under supervision of Reliable Kashruth. He redesigned one of the kitchens at Landerhaven, putting all of the equipment on wheels and installing quick disconnects. Then he bought a second set of equipment with the same features for the kosher operation that was stored in a trailer outside the kitchen. “They had great patience,” he said of the rabbis from Telshe Yeshiva in Wickliffe, which supervised the operation. “They bothered to train my people. They were willing to give the time and attention.” Kosher events were never a majority of Landerhaven’s business, but they made up 15% to 20% at some points, Diamond said, with many events taking place on weekdays and Sundays, which helped fill the calendar for the banquet hall. CELEBRITY STATUS As he began to rub elbows with politicians, from mayors to presidents, Diamond became something of a celebrity himself – sometimes being asked to emcee and as the years went by, racking up honors and awards that fill a memory book. Among them, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Cleveland Jewish News at the inaugural CJN 18 Difference Makers event, at Landerhaven, in 2015. His Irish wolfhounds became mascots attaining celebrity status as well, with the last, Connor, garnering invitations to weddings. Among his favorite people: former U.S. Sen. George
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HARLAN DIAMOND
OCTOBER 23, 2020
DIAMOND | 42 Voinovich and his family. “He’s a super human being, a great public servant, a man of great integrity and he had a super family. And he was my personal friend,” Diamond said of Voinovich, who died in 2016. In addition, he named former Cleveland Mayors Carl Stokes, Michael White and Jane Campbell and Mayor Frank G. Jackson, former Cleveland City Council President George Forbes as likable personalities. He also gave high marks to former President Bill Clinton, who liked Executive Caterers’ chocolate chip cookies. “The person I thought was the coolest: Laura Bush,” he said. “She was not only beautiful, she was smart. She was classy. She had dignity. And she held up a whole reception line until I got there so I could be in it too. How can you not love her?” A BRUSH WITH THE LAW Diamond had one public brush with the law in his career. According to investigators, he illegally aided former Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora in billing costs from a 2006 party for Dimora’s wife as part of an invoice for a campaign fundraising brunch. He pleaded guilty to mail fraud in
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U.S. District Court in Akron and was sentenced to one year of probation. “By law, I couldn’t have liquor licenses in my name, and I had four or five of them,” he said. “And Ohio Department of Liquor Control changed the law ... to accommodate me. That’s pretty cool. They were outraged by the results too.” CLEVELAND AND BEYOND Diamond calls himself a caterer, not a businessman, and he was sought after for off-site catering at the openings of buildings in downtown Cleveland and catered at the Governor’s Mansion in Columbus and beyond. In addition to Landerhaven, he owned two party centers in central Ohio, Stoney Creek Country Club in Columbus and Aladdin Shrine Center in Grove City. Diamond also designed corporate hospitality for the auto racing industry, building the chalet village concept at Cleveland’s Grand Prix auto racing events at Burke Lakefront Airport, which served 40,000 people in the 1980s. He held licenses in seven states to cater auto racing events. EMPLOYEE LOYALTY Diamond downplays his own role and credits the people he worked with at Executive Caterers – he said he did not create elegance. “My people did,” he said. “Don’t
Andrew Randall, left, outgoing president of Park Synagogue in Cleveland Heights and Pepper Pike, presents Harlan Diamond the 2016 Centerite Award. | Photo / Jenni Thomas
forget I basically had a female-run company. Women have a taste for that.” In the 1960s, Executive Caterers became a union catering company. Diamond said he offered employees benefits to those who averaged 30 hours a week during the busy season and continued that support during the slow season. Many employees stayed for decades and some brought their children and grandchildren into the business. “I’m proud of all the generations of
people that worked for us,” he said. “People bring their great-grandson to introduce him to me. I’m pretty proud of that. We’ve had generations of families work for us.” His employees, he said, really made the business what it was. “I’m not as nice as they are,” he said. “I’m not as honorable as they are. And I’m not as honest as they are. There’s a whole world of people who are really close to being perfect as possible. You got to get lucky to find ’em.”
Harlan Diamond Always a champion -Don Shury
44 | CLEVELAND JEWISH NEWS | CJN.ORG
Thank You
for Being a Friend! The Kurland Family
OCTOBER 23, 2020
Harlan Diamond through the years — April 1934 Harland Diamond born in Cleveland
— April 19, 1947
Confirmation
— June 5, 1952
Sincerely Judge Tony Calabrese
One of 24 honorees at the second annual “Legends and Legacies” Glenville High School Hall of Fame banquet
— 1999 — May 22, 1950
Elected vice president of the junior congregation at Park Synagogue
on your honor that you receive from the Cleveland Jewish News. It is so well deserved and I am very proud of you. Our friendship has existed for over 50 years and you have been truly a loyal and devoted friend. I wish you many more years of health and happiness.
— Nov. 21, 1998
Celebrates bar mitzvah at Park Chapel
— November 1950
Congratulations Harlan Diamond
HARLAN DIAMOND
Graduates from Cleveland Heights H.S.
— 1952 Starts catering weddings and bar mitzvahs, working out of his parents’ home on Channing Road in University Heights and using the Tasty Shoppe kitchens (owned by his uncle) or the facilities of the temple holding the event
— 1960 Executive Caterers is officially incorporated. Diamond moves his catering business to the Executive Club on Chagrin Boulevard in Woodmere.
— 1985 Executive Caterers moves to Cedar and Lander roads in Mayfield Heights
— October 1986 Ground-breaking ceremony for a 23,000-square-foot addition to Executive Caterers at Landerhaven
— September 1989 Executive Caterers at Landerhaven recognized for its contributions to the beautification of Mayfield Heights — Sept. 19, 1989 State of Israel Bonds honors Diamond at a gala dinner at Landerhaven
— Jan. 28, 1996 Diamond’s father, Dr. Leo Diamond, dies at 88. He had directed the landscaping at Executive Caterers for 21 years
— Sept. 4, 1997 Serves as emcee for Greater Cleveland State of Israel Bonds at Landerhaven
— June 24, 1998 Presented with Distinguished Service Award from the Northeast Ohio Chapter of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America
Executive Caterers creates new kosher catering division, L’echaim Kosher Caterers
— March 19, 2001 Diamond’s mother, Babe Diamond, dies of heart failure at age 94
— December 2001 Diamond launches phil•an•thro•pi•a to raise money for local charities after many Clevelanders sent their charitable dollars to New York City and Washington, D.C., following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks
— December 2003 Beachwood Chamber of Commerce establishes Harlan Diamond Scholarship Fund through the Beachwood Schools Foundation
— 2005 Inducted into Cleveland Heights Hall of Fame
— Nov. 4, 2005 Italian American Brotherhood Club honors Diamond with its 2005 Man of the Year Award
— May 21, 2006 Receives Jewish National Fund’s Tree of Life Award
— December 2007 Project Love honors Diamond for his contributions to the community and leadership
— Nov. 18, 2015 Diamond honored by the Cleveland Jewish News with the Lifetime Achievement Award during its inaugural CJN 18 Difference Makers event
— July 2016 Executive Caterers serves as an official caterer for the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland
— June 5, 2015 Honored as Centerite of the Year at Park Synagogue’s 147th annual meeting TIMELINE | 45
HARLAN DIAMOND
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OCTOBER 23, 2020
Phil•an•thro•pi•a pays big dividends for area nonprofits JANE KAUFMAN | STAFF REPORTER @jkaufmanCJN jkaufman@cjn.org |
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ver its 18-year lifespan, Phil•an•thro•pi•a became a fixture of fundraising for an increasing number of local charities, raising more than $2 million. Diamond, as president of Executive Caterers at Landerhaven, said he noticed a heavy increase in solicitations from local Bibb charities in fall 2001. “All the money that was donated locally started going to New York,” he said he realized, where the 9/11 terrorist attacks took their greatest toll. Diamond was concerned about the vacuum that left among small nonprofits in Greater Cleveland – nonprofits that were too small to throw their own fundraising events. He called the general manager at television station WEWS at the time, Bishop Anthony Pilla and Alex Machaskee, then president and publisher of The Plain Dealer. His concept was to morph the December Corporate Club luncheon (a monthly series hosted at Landerhaven
at the time) into Phil•an•thro•pi•a, a fundraising opportunity for small nonprofits across Greater Cleveland. Diamond and corporate sponsors underwrote the cost of the luncheon and entertainment. Guests were invited to write a check to their favorite 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in exchange for a seat at a table. That first event in 2001, Phil•an•thro•pi•a’s 200 guests raised $9,000 for local charities. The ticket price that year was $30 a person. As the years went on, the ticket price gradually increased to $75 per person, or $750 for a table of 10. Leon Bibb, longtime Cleveland newsman who is now a special commentator at television station WKYC, met Diamond at several events at Landerhaven, the facility Diamond recently sold. The two struck up a friendship and Diamond asked Bibb to serve as master of ceremonies at Phil•an•thro•pi•a. “I know of nobody else who did this kind of thing; I felt it to be unique,” Bibb told the CJN. “And Harlan was very, very intent on it. I think it’s just part of his character.” At each Phil•an•thro•pi•a, Bibb pulled Diamond on stage to interview him. “He was our gracious host, I would always say, and people would applaud him
TIMELINE | 44
— March 2017 Receives the Michael Roman Lifetime Achievement Award from Catersource, a leading catering industry publication, for his long career at the forefront of the industry
— May 20, 2017 Connor Diamond, an Irish wolfhound, dies after a fight with cancer. Connor served as an ambassador at Executive Caterers and was regularly booked for bar mitzvahs and weddings.
— June 13, 2019 Celebrates 85th birthday at Landerhaven
— July 21, 2020 Landerhaven, Executive Caterers enter into purchase agreement with Driftwood Restaurants & Catering
— September 2020 Diamond officially passes the torch to Driftwood
Leon Bibb announces raffle winners at Phil•an•thro•pi•a in 2016 as Harlan Diamond looks on. | CJN Photo / Amanda Koehn
like crazy,” Bibb recalled. In those on-stage chats, “As I recall, he talked about the importance of helping – helping people and helping organizations.” By 2013, the event attracted more than 1,000 guests and raised more than $140,000. Diamond told fundraisers how to multiply the impact of the event. “I’d say here’s what you do: You buy a table for $750,” Diamond said. “Make that check out to your favorite charity. … Take those 10 seats and sell them to all your friends. And have them make out checks to their favorite charities. Some people raised $5,000, $10,000 on the corporate tables.”
A raffle at each Phil•an•thro•pi•a awarded winners a pair of tickets to Executive Caterers’ annual New Year’s Eve event. Winners also got to decide which nonprofits would receive volunteer hours, volunteer services, or in the case of the grand prize, the earnings from the raffle. Diamond said some groups found they could rely on Phil•an•thro•pi•a as their sole fundraising event of the year. “Harlan gives of himself,” Bibb said. “And he gives of his time. He gives of his talent and he gives of his treasure – treasury. I think that says a great deal about a man or any person.”
Harlan, we’ve shared so many of life’s happy moments and challenging times together over the years. Mazel tov on your wonderful legacy. God bless you. Rabbi Joshua Skoff Rabbi Sharon Marcus Senior Rabbi Associate Rabbi Susan Ratner Park President
Compiled by Digital Marketing Manager Cheryl Sadler and former Online Content Specialist Abbie Murphy Sources: The Samuel H. Miller Keeping Our Words Alive Digital Archive of the Cleveland Jewish News (cjn.org/archive), heighsschoolsfoundation.org
www.parksynagogue.org | (216) 371-2244
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OCTOBER 23, 2020
HARLAN DIAMOND
Calabrese reflects on 60 years of friendship with Diamond McKENNA KENNA CORSON | STAFF REPORTER @McKenna8989 mcorson@cjn.org |
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n the summer of 1959, Tony Calabrese and Harlan Diamond – both men in their mid-20s and just starting their careers – were introduced by a mutual friend. Calabrese never could have predicted that 60 years later, he would know Diamond as a role model, inspiration, successful businessman and compassionate leader, but most importantly, as a best friend. “I don’t think words can adequately describe what a great Calabrese person he is,” said Calabrese, a resident of Mayfield. “He’s very compassionate with people. He’s always open to helping people. With Harlan, it never mattered what religion you were, or what gender, race or ethnicity. It was one human being dealing with another human being.” After immediately finding numerous commonalities, Calabrese and Diamond grew close
after Calabrese started on his law path and performed legal work for Diamond. “I found out that he was a very big-hearted, very competitive man,” said Calabrese, a retired Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas judge and lawyer. “He always took care of his employees in the sense that if they had something like a family problem, he would go out of his way to try to help them. It was always more than just employer-employee, and that really impressed me.” Calabrese recalled Diamond frequently helping the community when local organizations threw events with Executive Caterers because it was a part of his good nature. “Sometimes, there would be a charity event and they would be a little short on money,” Calabrese said. “Harlan would work with them and sometimes even forgive some obligations of the charities.” As their friendship continued to strengthen over the years and their families grew close as well, Calabrese couldn’t help but learn from Diamond during the time they spent together and seeing him lead Executive Caterers and Landerhaven. “He showed me how to be a better person,”
“I don’t think words can adequately describe what a great person he is.” Tony Calabrese Calabrese said. “I think that also helped me become a better lawyer and a better judge.” Now both in their mid-80s, Calabrese visits Diamond once a week at his home in Bratenahl and takes him to his doctor’s appointments. They reminisce about time spent at Executive Caterers, like Calabrese’s wedding, mutual friends’ weddings and bar mitzvahs. “He’s definitely my best friend,” Calabrese said. “We’ve always looked to each other for advice, because I trust him with my life. When we were younger, if we were faced with a problem, we’d sit down and discuss it. “Harlan is a wonderful, wonderful human being. It’s been a real pleasure for me to have been friends with him all these years.”
Mayfield Heights mayor: Diamond brought ‘class’ to city McKENNA KENNA CORSON | STAFF REPORTER @McKenna8989 mcorson@cjn.org |
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he first time Mayfield Heights Mayor Anthony DiCicco met Harlan Diamond, it was at DiCicco and Sons Funeral Home in Mayfield Heights 20 years ago. Not yet mayor of the city, DiCicco introduced himself to Diamond after immediately recognizing him, and DiCicco the two talked shop. “We started talking about business, his business, our business and the importance of
maintaining good business in Mayfield Heights,” DiCicco said. “He was just very gracious and so down to earth.” Now, as Diamond’s occupational chapter comes to a close, DiCicco looks back on Diamond’s impact on the city, where Executive Caterers has been housed in Landerhaven since 1985. “Harlan has always run a first-class operation that I think the reputation rubs off on the rest of Mayfield Heights,” DiCicco said. “He’s always been a very generous person helping the city whenever he can. He’s classed the place up, I’d say.” DiCicco said Diamond would allow the city’s blood drives and Mayfield City Schools to use Landerhaven on top of the countless other events held in the space.
“To have that type of facility that has first-class events, first-class people working there and first-class people running the whole operation makes it such a great asset to the city,” DiCicco said. Through their years working together to strengthen Mayfield Heights, DiCicco gained more and more insight behind the dedicated entrepreneur. “He’s generous and very willing to put himself out there to help whenever he’s needed,” DiCicco said. “He’s just a solid business owner who you love to have in your city.” Diamond’s retirement surprised DiCicco knowing how much Diamond loved to work, but despite his feelings of sadness, DiCicco hopes Diamond has a fruitful retirement.
“Harlan has always run a first-class operation that I think the reputation rubs off on the rest of Mayfield Heights.” Anthony DiCicco “We’ll miss him, that’s for sure,” DiCicco said. “I can’t believe he’s actually going to retire. I’m not sure how retirement will sit with him, but I wish him well.”
DIFFERENCE MAKERS
“Double Chai” in 2015
Harlan Diamond was the Lifetime Achievement recipient at the 2015 inaugural Cleveland Jewish News 18 Difference Makers event, held at Landerhaven. To read the story, visit bit.ly/2IKbrMe
HARLAN DIAMOND
OCTOBER 23, 2020
A small snapshot of Harlan
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Harlan Diamond 60 years of Community My Dear Lifetime Friend... Best to you, today and always ~Barry Feldman
Harlan, congratulations on a well-deserved tribute for serving our community for over 60 years. Best wishes for your continued health and happiness. Michael & Lana Jacobson Walter & Paula Schwartz The John Aub Family Trust