Grad student from NYC taking on Glenn glory as pet project

in mostly private fundraising and no shortage of political conflict. Getting a birthplace recognized nationally, particularly one where the famous resident spent only two years, also is a challenge.

Sackowitz, of Long Island, has the devotion of a groupie when it comes to Glenn, and he believes the space hero’s legacy can make it all happen.

Glenn died Dec. 8 at age 95. He was the first American to orbit Earth, in 1962, and became the oldest person in space at age 77 in 1998. He was also a decorated war hero, a record-setting aviator and a longtime U.S. senator.

State Rep. Michael Sheehy, a To- ledo-area Democrat, said he’s ready to work with Sackowitz on getting a Glenn statue created and placed on Statehouse grounds, preferably on the lawn.

Sackowitz said he first became interested in Glenn when, as a second-grader, he witnessed Glenn’s return to space in 1998. His grandparents had attended the ticker-tape parade in New York celebrating Glenn’s 1962 orbit.

Officials are reviewing Sackowitz’s application seeking a historic designation for Glenn’s birthplace in Cambridge, Ohio, according to Emmy Beach, spokeswoman for Ohio His- tory Connection, a statewide history group. Sackowitz said he’s working with the city’s mayor on a possible plaque marking the site in case the application is denied.

Beach said most residences that make the national historic register were lived in “during the productive years of a person’s life,” as was the case with inventor Thomas Edison’s home in Milan in northern Ohio, but not for the Glenn property in Cambridge. She said Glenn’s childhood home in New Concord, Ohio, where the Glenn family moved when John was 2 years old, is maintained as a state historic site and museum.