The curb along Euclid Avenue in front of Playhouse Square was saved by one man: Oliver Henkel. It was the first move in his decades-long quest to preserve Cleveland’s theater district.

“He was the greatest gentleman I ever met,” said veteran Cleveland theater director Joe Garry. “He was the smartest man I ever met. He was a diplomat of the first order. What really saved the theaters was clearly Oliver Henkel.”

Henkel died August 25 at the age of 88 at his home in Cleveland Heights. The Mansfield native was born in White Plains, New York, and nicknamed "Pudge" due to his rotund appearance as a newborn. He came to Cleveland in 1964, setting up a legal practice that eventually involved the city’s civic and cultural endeavors.

In the early 1970s, he was an attorney with Jones Day when the L

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