Richard W. (Dick) Pogue
Named the Most Powerful Man
in the City of Cleveland

Dick Pogue

Everyone knows the name Richard "Dick" Pogue. His name is usually preceded by the work "legend" as in the Legendary Dick Pogue or simply as "Mr. Cleveland". As Managing Partner at Jones Day Reavis and Pogue he grew the firm from about 300 attorneys to over 1200 and from five domestic to twenty worldwide offices becoming the second largest US law firm. In this interview we learned about his early days and how he wanted to be a sportswriter more than a lawyer.

He tells the interesting story of how he and his wife Pat got to Cleveland. "I had never been to Cleveland. I had never heard of Jones Day," he said. He and his wife Pat planned on spending five years in Cleveland and moving on. They never left.

He told us how he created a minority hiring task force in 1987, which visited each U.S. Firm office, met with their recruiting committees, and suggested strategies for seeking out minority lawyers. He also opened the door for women partners leading to the hiring of Naoma Stewart as Jones Day's first female lawyer and then not only the first female partner in firm history but possibly the first female partner at any major Cleveland law firm.

He foresaw the importance of international markets and told us the story of how he was told 'You can't get there from Cleveland. The clients won't take you seriously. Unless you have a New York office, forget it.' But he pressed on and began growing offices in London, Paris, Riyadh, Geneva, Hong Kong, Brussels, Tokyo, Taipei, Frankfurt and so on.

In 1988, Cleveland Magazine named Dick "the most powerful man in the city" He played a role in most of the most meaningful civic accomplishments in Cleveland's history including securing the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. It's a great story!

He tells of the famous public-private partnerships that he and other city leaders established to get the city out of default and back on track to a resurgence with Mayor George Voinovich and others. He told us how he helped give voice to the minority community as a founder and chairman of the Greater Cleveland Roundtable, an urban coalition comprised of leaders from business, education, labor, civic, and religious organizations to facilitate minority economic inclusion and improve multicultural and multiracial relations in the city.

Now age 97 he is still active and busy with civic and philanthropic activities. He shares his 40-40-20 plan that allowed him to fill his 12-18 hour work days with the most effective and productive efforts. We can all learn a lot from this remarkable man. Watch.

Richard W. (“Dick”) Pogue is Senior Advisor (i.e., full-time independent consultant) at Jones Day in Cleveland, Ohio. A graduate of Cornell University (1950) and the University of Michigan Law School (1953), he served three years (1954-1957) in the Patents Division, Office of The Judge Advocate General, United States Army, in the Pentagon, and left with the rank of Captain. He holds Honorary Doctorate degrees from the University of Akron and the Cleveland Institute of Music. In 1972 he served for six weeks in the White House as a consultant on antitrust policy.

Mr. Pogue joined the law firm Jones, Day, Cockley & Reavis in Cleveland as an Associate in 1957, and became a Partner in 1961. Over the years his primary fields of practice were antitrust, corporate takeover work, and commercial arbitration/mediation. On 3/1/84, he became Managing Partner of the Firm, by then known as Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue. During his nine years (1984-1992) in that position, the Firm grew from 335 to 1,225 lawyers and from five domestic to 20 worldwide offices, and became the second largest U.S. law firm. Today Jones Day has over 2,500 lawyers in 41 offices around the world.

On 6/30/94, Mr. Pogue retired from Jones Day and became Senior Advisor to (and a Director and major shareholder of) Dix & Eaton, a Cleveland-based regional public relations firm. Then on 1/1/04, he returned to Jones Day in his present capacity, where he assists the Firm’s Managing Partner (Stephen J. Brogan) and its Cleveland Office Partner-in-Charge (Christopher M. Kelly) and others in client development, special projects, and civic engagement.

Over the years Mr. Pogue served as a Director of various companies, including Continental Airlines, Derlan Industries (Canada), M.A. Hanna Co. IT Group, KeyCorp, Ohio Bell Telephone Co., Redland PLC (England), Rotek Incorporated, and TRW.

Mr. Pogue has chaired many major organizations in the civic arena in Cleveland and Northeast Ohio (including The Cleveland Foundation, Business Volunteers Unlimited, University Hospitals Health System, the Greater Cleveland Growth Association (“GCGA”), The City Club of Cleveland, the Presidents’ Council Foundation, The 50 Club, Kulas Foundation, the Greater Cleveland Chapter of the American Red Cross, and the successful $51.9 million United Way Campaign in 1989). He was the principal organizer in 1997 of the Regional Business Council, the predecessor of Team NEO, a Regional marketing group serving the 16-county Northeast Ohio Region. As Co-Chair he just completed a $30 million campaign to revive the Gordon Square Arts District on the near west side of Cleveland.

He chairs the Advisory Committee for the (Ralph) Regula Institute at Mount Union University; and is a member of three Columbus-based organizations: (i) the Ohio State Bar Association Committee to preserve and promote the legacy of the late Ohio Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer; (ii) the Access to Justice Task Force appointed by Ohio Supreme Court Justice Maureen O’Connor; and (iii) the Ohio Legal Assistance Foundation.

He has been active in the field of Higher Education: (a) He became a Trustee of the University of Akron in 2004 and has served as Chairman of the Board since 7/1/12. (b) A Trustee Emeritus of Case Western Reserve University, he is currently a Trustee of both the Cleveland Institute of Music (where he co-chaired a successful $40 million Capital Campaign) and the Northeast Ohio Council on Higher Education (of which he served as Interim Executive Director in 2001). (c) In 1993-94 he designed and taught a course as Visiting Professor at the University of Michigan Law School entitled “The Business of Law.” (d) In 2003-04, he chaired the (Ohio) Governor’s Commission on Higher Education & the Economy (“CHEE”), a 33-member group of business leaders, college presidents, and State government officials, which publicly reported on 4/29/04 a number of major recommendations relating to Higher Education’s role in the State’s economic development. (e) This led to his 2005-06 activity in helping the Ohio Business Roundtable to organize the (Ohio) Business Alliance on Higher Education & the Economy (“BAHEE”), a group of active and retired CEOs, to carry on some of the work of CHEE. (f) Since 2007 he has served as the (first) chair of the Dean’s Advisory Council at the University of Michigan Law School.

In 1930, as a two-year-old, he spent a year in Paris while his father assisted Ropes & Gray, a Boston-based law firm, in opening an office there. As Jones Day’s Managing Partner, Mr. Pogue led the Firm’s entry into international practice, beginning 1/1/86; during his stint the Firm opened overseas offices in London, Paris, Riyadh, Geneva, Hong Kong, Brussels, Tokyo, Taipei, and Frankfurt.

As Chairman of the GCGA he co-founded the Greater Cleveland International Trade Alliance, which acquired World Trade Center status. For several decades he has been a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. At the Cleveland Council on World Affairs (“CCWA”) he chairs the Global Impact Award Committee and the CCWA Foundation.

Mr. Pogue and his wife Pat have lived in Shaker Heights, Ohio since 2/1/57. They have three children (Mark – Providence, RI, Tracy – Manhattan, and David – Westport, CT), and eight grandchildren.

Dick Pogue and Sanjiv Kapur

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Sanjiv Kapur inducting Dick Pogue

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Watch the video of Dick Pogue's acceptance speech.

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Dick Pogue giving his acceptance remarks

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Pat and Dick Pogue with Jose Feliciano

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Pat and Dick Pogue

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Dick Pogue at the Hall of Fame event

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Dick Pogue with fellow inductees
Shiv Aggarwal and Bishop Anthony Pilla

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Dick Pogue listening to Bishop Anthony Pilla

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Dan Hanson introducing Dick Pogue

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Sanjiv Kapur and Dick Pogue

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