Mentor Area Chamber of Commerce Recognizes Its Business, Citizen and Organization of the Year

John Krueger realizes the legacy his family has left in Mentor.

His father, Donald Krueger, won the Outstanding Citizen Award from Mentor Area Chamber of Commerce in 1974 and his mother, Marguerite Krueger-Brunner, won the Distinguished Citizen Award in 1991.

John Krueger  – now simply called the Citizen of the Year Award – from the Chamber during a luncheon today at .

However, Krueger joked that his adjectiveless award was inferior to his parents' accomplishment.

"My father was the outstanding citizen. My mother was distinguished," he told the Chamber members. "Try as I will, I have not attained their success."

In addition to Krueger, the Chamber also recognized and .

The chamber's award continues a good year for U.S. Endoscopy. In addition to celebrating its 20th anniversary, it is also building 

U.S. Endoscopy President and CEO Gulam Khan said he remembered coming to the Mentor Lagoons as a kid. When it came time to go home, he'd never want to leave, he said.

Now that he works in Mentor, "It's the same as the beach, I never want to leave," he said.

Instead of writing an acceptance speech, as the other winners had, Mentor Schools Superintendent Jacqueline Hoynes read an email she received from a student's mother.

The woman's daughter is an eighth-grader who went to until she was diagnosed with osteosarcoma. The daughter, Riley, needed parts of her femur and knee replaced with titanium implants.

The email thanked Mentor Schools and its students for being so supportive of her daughter.

"(The schools and students) have a spirit of committment and caring that is like no other," Hoynes read. "I know you're proud of your schools, but I don't know if you really, really know how proud you should be."

When Krueger spoke, he said most strong men have a strong woman who supported them. He, however, had four : his wife, Detra; his mother, Marguerite Krueger-Brunner; the ; and , who Krueger called Grandma G.

Both Waterman, who nominated Krueger for the award, and Garfield are former Citizen of the Year Award winners, also. In fact, Garfield was the first winner in 1965.