Marco Sommerville announces Akron mayoral campaign, gets Mayor Dan Horrigan's endorsement

Two weeks before the pandemic hit, Marco Sommerville gingerly rode out of Akron with the body of Dr. Mary Meeker.

“And I remember riding to the cemetery with the priest. And he was trying to figure out, how did I get this funeral?” said Sommerville, who buried the prestigious white woman in March 2020 after holding her service at his West Akron funeral home, which predominantly serves Black families.

“The white community may be a bit perplexed about that,” Akron Attorney Bob Meeker said of his wife’s funeral. “But I had confidence in him as a funeral director. And, of course, as a dear friend. I feel like he's a brother to me. We have turned to each other for advice on a variety of things.

“And, so, I consider Marco a great friend. I think he’d make a wonderful mayor.”

Deputy Mayor for Intergovernmental Affairs and longtime business owner Marco Sommerville will run for mayor in 2023, adding to the growing list of hopefuls eager to fill Dan Horrigan's upcoming vacancy.

Sommerville's announcement came hours after Horrigan announced Tuesday that he would not seek a third term. Sommerville said Horrigan disclosed the decision to him "some time ago," giving him time to consider a run.

Horrigan endorsed Sommerville Thursday morning.

"I love the city of Akron deeply," Sommerville said. "It is where I was born, raised, married my wife, raised my children, bought my home, and grew a successful business. My commitment to this city, the continued growth of our economy, and the well-being of everyone who calls this great city home is unwavering."

Public service built by relationships

Meeker is among the "major players" Sommerville said are backing him in the upcoming May primary.

The personal injury and malpractice attorney has supported or run numerous mayoral campaigns — the late Ray Kapper's failed attempt in three-way race in 1979, Tom Sawyer’s 1983 ousting of the last Republican to run Akron and the loss of Meeker's brother to Don Plusquellic in 1987.

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Meeker’s the kind of connected person someone like Sommerville would want in his corner. But it’s their friendship — and how it came to be — that speaks directly to what has shaped Sommerville in Akron.

It’s the story of his currency as a candidate, a public servant, a civil rights leader and the owner of a business built on developing relationships.

From Alabama to Goodyear to the bank

Born to a family who left Alabama in the Great Migration, Sommerville idolized Stewart Calhoun, his funeral director cousin. Ever since he was a boy, Sommerville wanted his own funeral home.

But he worked “on the squad at Goodyear,” which also employed his mother, father, grandfather and great-grandfather. The work allowed his father to send Sommerville to college, which in turn allowed Sommerville to send his three children to college.

After Sommerville spent three years at Kent State and earned a degree at the Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science, the owner of old Turner Funeral Home in Akron let Sommerville embalm clients there. The arrangement meant Sommerville didn’t have to pay rent and only had business expenses when he had business. He worked like this for years for other funeral directors in Cleveland and Akron, never earning enough to start his own funeral home.

Frustrated, he visited Dr. Elwood Sharpe on old Wooster Avenue to talk about how the banks wouldn’t cut him a loan. Sharpe told him to “buy a relationship,” meaning pitch his plan to a law firm that does regular business with the banks.

That’s how he met Meeker, who introduced him to a banker that split his business startup loan between FirstMerit and National City. The banker then set him up with a 3% state loan to cover the rest. At 30 years old, he established Sommerville Funeral Homes, renovating an old car wash in West Akron using tools borrowed overnight and materials discarded by construction workers at Goodyear.

“I mean, it's just a great story for me. When I start to look about all that happened, you know, you forget about all those kinds of things,” said Sommerville. “But that's how you got to where you're at. And it just goes to show — if you have a dream and work at it, it can happen. It can happen to anybody.”

Political experience, public service

At 32, Sommerville entered politics as a campaign staffer for Jesse Jackson’s 1984 presidential bid. In 1987, he was elected to Akron City Council, where he served Ward 3 and became president in 2000.

His daughter, who is now council president, took his seat by appointment when Plusquellic made Sommerville Akron's planning director in 2012. Sommerville, who is now 70, stayed on in 2015 when a newly elected Horrigan named him deputy mayor of Intergovernmental Affairs and senior adviser.

Sommerville has served as president of Downtown Akron Partnership, the Akron Branch of the NAACP and Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity. In 2021, the Summit County Democratic Party appointed him the first Black man to serve as a director of the Summit County Board of Elections.

If elected next year, he would be the first Black mayor of Akron. That's a milestone he's fought toward on the campaigns of the late Jim Williams (the first Black judge in the Summit County Courthouse), the late Helen Arnold (the first Black woman to serve on the Akron School Board) and Ray Burgess (the first Black man to serve on County Council).

Reach reporter Doug Livingston at dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3792. Abbey Marshall is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Learn more at reportforamerica.org. Contact her at amarshall1@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Deputy Mayor Marco Sommerville announces mayoral campaign