35th Anniversary: Perk, The Publisher and the Pie

Lute Harmon, publisher and founder of Cleveland Magazine, has never been above a little tongue-in-cheek humor (if you’ve ever heard him speak at an event, we’re sure you know this to be true). In 1977, Mayor Ralph Perk received a pie in the face courtesy of young Sue Kucklik. A member of the Youth International Party (Yippies, for short), Kucklik was “an ardent feminist ... [who] never liked Ralph Perk very much.” So she pied him. Right in the middle of his gala to reopen his campaign headquarters. In tribute, Harmon offered readers a Christmas gift that would haunt him on the magazine’s letters page for months. 
 
Here you see Sue Kucklik, 23 years old, appearing much as she did on the fateful day she sealed the doom of ex-mayor Ralph J. Perk. In the cardboard box she holds is a Christmas gift for you, dear reader, from all of us here at CLEVELAND Magazine.
You may think Dennis Kucinich and Edward Feighan wrecked Ralph’s chances, but we know better. It was Sue Kucklik and the dreaded Yippie curse.
­— “A Special Christmas Gift To Our Readers,” Dec. 1977