John Long lived a life filled with adventure and the pursuit of culinary experiences, stories he would share with gusto.
Before embarking on a career as an investigative reporter, and later as a food and wine writer at The Plain Dealer, Long traveled the world, exploring Europe and Asia. He spent New Year's Eve one year at the Taj Mahal, hiked the Himalayas in Nepal and once set off on horseback to cross Afghanistan, although he didn't get far.
Long was an outdoorsman who loved the Western U.S., embarking annually on fly-fishing vacations to his family's home in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and in recent years to a 10-acre ranch in Montana.
As an accomplished cook and restaurant critic, he chronicled the emergence of the food scene in Cleveland, and often threw elaborate dinner parties with his wife of 31 years, Katherine Siemon Long, a Plain Dealer editor, at their home in Lakewood, and later in Montville Township, Medina County.
Long, 68, died on Friday, Dec. 8, from complications of early onset dementia.
Long grew up in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, the son of a surgeon and brother to five sisters. He attended the University of Arizona, and started his reporting career at The Arizona Daily Star in Tucson, where he was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 1984 for stories exploring production problems and mismanagement at the Hughes Aircraft Co. in Tucson.
Later that year, Long came to The Plain Dealer, tackling projects that included an investigation into the 1981 murder of 14-year-old Tammy Seals by Orlando Morales; abuses at facilities operated by the Ohio Department of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities; irregularities with defense contractors; and construction difficulties at the Cleveland Metroparks' RainForest exhibit.
In 1992, Long teamed with former Plain Dealer reporter Steve Luttner on an investigation into then-Bedford Heights Mayor Jimmy Dimora's campaign finance practices, nepotism and questionable city dealings. "Jimmy was not happy," Luttner recalled.
Their work foreshadowed Dimora's downfall 20 years later when a federal court jury convicted him of racketeering and 30 other corruption-related charges, and a judge sentenced him to 28 years in prison.
In 1994, Long made a quality-of-life beat change, becoming the food and wine writer for The Plain Dealer. It was a smooth transition for the gourmet cook who had taken courses at Le Cordon Bleu in London.
Cleveland's restaurant scene was burgeoning, and the appointment of the new critic was timely.
"John had a following and a certain sophistication that, up to that point, didn't exist in Cleveland the way it does now," said renowned restaurateur Zack Bruell.
Paul Minillo, owner of Flour in Moreland Hills and the former Baricelli Inn in Little Italy, recalled taking a wine tour of France with Long, and visiting one of the best Burgundy houses in the world. Long spent most of the time interviewing the owner, who gradually became impressed by his visitor.
"For an American, you know these wines pretty well," Minillo recalled the vintner gushing.
Retired Plain Dealer food editor Joe Crea said he learned much from Long.
"John had a nearly encyclopedic knowledge of the world of wine and food, and could weave fascinating stories with the best of them," Crea said. "The Cleveland food scene lost so much with his passing."
In an online tribute site, former Plain Dealer deputy editorial page editor Kevin O'Brien recalled how he had worked with Long in Tucson and moved to Cleveland shortly after Long had arrived here. He said Long was universally well-liked.
"Of all of the reporters I have ever known," O'Brien wrote, "not a single one was more adept at getting an interviewee to open up, often contrary to the interviewee's best interest. Simply put, John could very professionally charm the scales off a snake. He was, in the very best sense of the word, a character."
Long is survived by his wife, two daughters, Elizabeth and Suzanne, a son, John III, and his sisters. A remembrance service will be held at an area restaurant next month.
"Suzy said he wouldn't have wanted a funeral," his wife said. "He'd want a 'fun'eral."
