Attorney Benson A. Wolman, title-holder of the downtrodden, well-known storyteller and the pen
behind 100s of eating house reviews, died yesterday at Grant Checkup Center. He was 71.
Associates said Wolman was rushed to the infirmary from his business office at 88 E. Broad St. after
falling sick at work.
He was to experience explorative intestinal surgery to detect the cause of the unwellness but died
before that could occur, longtime business office director Susan Kretschmer said.
Nationally recognized for his cognition of constitutional law, civil rights and legal
representation of the poor, Wolman led a diverse legal calling over the past two decades.
In 2005, he became main executive director and general advocate of the Peer Justice Foundation, a
nonprofit federal agency designed to stand for those who are disenfranchised by the legal system.
For the past 16 years, Wolman also dished out eating house reappraisals for
Columbus Monthly and other publications under the pen name Ben Vivant. He
referred to himself in black and white as "a gourmand and wino masquerading as epicure and connoisseur." He
was a member of the International Wine and Food Society and had nearly 3,000 bottles of mulct wines
in his personal collection.
Wolman was a sought-after talker on civil-rights and First Amendment issues and loved telling a
good story. Before his frequent speeches, Wolman would pass out what he called "standard obituary
material" and then implore masters of ceremonies not to dullard the audience with the details, "a undertaking he reserves
for himself."
Wolman, of the East Side, grew up in Bexley and often joked that he was Columbus' oldest native
liberal.
"He was the best foreman ever, very just and very flexible," Kretschmer said of her 15 years
working with Wolman. "He considered all of us colleagues, which is rare for some bosses."
Central Buckeye State lawyers elected Wolman seven modern times since 1994 to the Council of Delegates of the
Ohio State Barroom Association. He also have chaired the association's Media Law Committee.
He served as president of the Central Buckeye State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and provided
pro bono work for civil-rights and human-rights cases.
Nelson Genshaft, one of Wolman's former law partners, said Wolman was perhaps proudest of his
work with victims of the Kent State University shootings. Four anti-war protesters were killed and
nine others wounded by Buckeye State National Guardsman on the campus on May 4, 1970.
"He brought the state authorities down and forced it to apologise and acknowledge its wrongdoing,"
Genshaft said. "Benson kept a signed written document from (then-Gov. Jesse James A.) Cecil Rhodes in his desk
drawer."
Wolman, who was Jewish, persuaded the U.S. Supreme Court to govern that the anti-Semitic Ku Klux
Klan should be allowed to raise a cross at the Statehouse.
Eight old age later, he led a squad of lawyers in the successful entreaty by inmate Brian Dalton, who
had been sentenced to seven old age in prison house in Capital Of Ohio for authorship his sexual phantasies about
children in a personal notebook. Wolman argued the lawsuit turned on governmental "thought police."
Dalton was freed after serving 18 months.
Before practicing law, Wolman served as law clerk for Judge Saint George C. Ian Smith in U.S. District
Court and served 17 old age as executive manager director of the Capital Of Ohio subdivision of the American Civil
Liberties Union. He earned his law grade at Capital University Law School and entered private
practice in 1988.
He taught Lord'S Day school for 10 old age as a member of Congregation Agudas Achim and had served on
the boards of legal guardians of the Hillel Foundation at Buckeye State State University, the Capital Of Ohio Jewish
Federation and Wexner Heritage Village.
Wolman is survived by his wife, Jerilyn Lazear Wolman; a son, Robert, of Virginia; and a
granddaughter, Mia.
Services are being handled by Jacob Epstein Memorial Chapel and a funeral is scheduled Monday at
Agudas Achim, 2767 E. Broad St.
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