ESTATE PLANNING COUNCIL OF CLEVELAND

About our Honoree...
Patrick J. Saccogna is a partner in the law firm Thompson Hine LLP, where he is a member of its Personal & Succession Planning practice group. He focuses his law practice on counseling individuals, families, and closely-held businesses in a wide range of personal, charitable, tax, and business succession planning matters, and representing fiduciaries in estate and trust administration and litigation matters.

Patrick was elected a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel in 2007 and currently serves as chair of the Estate Planning Advisory Council of Case Western Reserve University. He has served as president (2001-2002), program chair (1997-1998), and tax update lecturer (2008-2011) of The Estate Planning Council of Cleveland, chair (2006-2007) of the Estate Planning, Probate, & Trust Law Section of the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association, and secretary (2003-2006) and legislative update lecturer (2005-2007) of the Northern Ohio Planned Giving Council. He also is an active member of the Ohio State Bar Association as well as several other Cleveland-area planned giving advisory boards, including the University Hospitals Diamond Advisory Group, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s Rock Advisors, and the Great Lakes Science Center’s Garrett Morgan Professionals Group, and two Cleveland estate planning discussion groups, one of which he is a founding member.

Named a Best Lawyers® 2017 Lawyer of the Year (Cleveland: Closely Held Companies and Family Businesses Law), Patrick also has been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America in three different practice areas: Closely Held Companies and Family Businesses Law, Litigation – Trusts and Estates, and Trusts and Estates. He has been selected for inclusion in Ohio Super Lawyers® for 10 straight years (2008-2017). In addition to being a practicing attorney, Patrick also is a Certified Public Accountant (Ohio), and he was certified as an Accredited Estate Planner® (AEP®) by the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils in 2014. He received his LL.M. in taxation from Case Western Reserve University School of Law in 1999, his J.D., magna cum laude, from Case Western Reserve University School of Law in 1990, and his B.B.A. in accounting, summa cum laude, from Kent State University in 1987.

A speaker on estate planning topics at national, state, and local continuing education seminars, Patrick is known for his energetic and entertaining style and his tendency to break into song at any given moment. He has delivered over 200 presentations during his career, and has authored numerous articles on estate planning subjects appearing in national, state, and local publications.

Patrick is engaged to be married to his fiancée, Barbara Werstler, and is the extremely proud father of two daughters, Jillian Dale Saccogna, who is studying psychology at the College of Wooster, and Bethany Elise Saccogna, who is studying biology at Ohio University.

About the Distinuguished Estate Planner Award...
The Distinguished Estate Planner Award was created in 2001 with the purpose of honoring an individual for outstanding contributions within the multi-disciplinary field of estate planning. Recipients of the award may currently be engaged in practice or retired, but must have been involved in the field of estate planning for a minimum of 15 years and a member of the Estate Planning Council of Cleveland for at least 5 years at some point in his or her career. Recipients also reflect the goals for which the council was organized: to provide a better understanding of estate planning and of the services that estate planners can render to the general public; to promote cooperation and to foster a better understanding of the proper relationship among estate planners of different professions; and to further the education of the members of the council and of the public in the field of estate planning.

Previous recipients of the award include P. Thomas Austin, J. Donald Cairns, Robert M. Brucken, Jeffrey L. Weiler, Roger L. Schumaker, Herbert L. Braverman, James G. Dickinson, Marcia J. Wexberg, Stephen H. Gariepy, M. Patricia Culler, Gary A. Zwick, Matthew F. Kadish, M. Elizabeth Monihan, Radd L. Riebe, Joseph M. Mentrek and Howard Edelstein. 

2017 Distinguished Estate Planner Award Committee
Jennifer A. Savage, Chair, Schneider Smeltz Speith Bell
Michael T. Novak, Vice-Chair, Wellspring Financial Advisors, LLC
Greg S. Cowan, Bernstein Private Wealth Management
Howard B. Edelstein*, Edelstein Financial / Northwestern Mutual
Charles E. Federanich, Pease & Associates, Inc.
Alan D. Gross, Jewish Federation of Cleveland
Wendy S. Lewis, The Glenmede Trust Company
Karen T. Manning, BNY Mellon Wealth Management
Michael W. Matile, FNB Wealth Management
Joseph M. Mentrek*, Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP
M. Elizabeth Monihan*, Schneider Smeltz Speith Bell
Radd L. Riebe*, Stout Risius Ross, Inc.
Bradley Schlang, Cedar Brook Financial Partners, LLC

*past recipient