Mark L. Gillispie, 63, of Cleveland Heights, a longtime journalist in Northeast Ohio, died Sunday, Jan. 29, 2023, of cancer.

Mark was a gifted storyteller and dogged reporter, working nearly 40 years as a reporter at (The Lake County) News-Herald, The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer and the Associated Press, where he worked as a Cleveland-based reporter until September.

He was preceded in death by his wife of 30 years, Mary Lou (Sneyd), a newspaper copy editor and designer who died of cancer in 2020. They met while working at The News-Herald and both later worked at The Plain Dealer. He also was preceded in death by his parents, Leeson and Alice Gillispie, and sister Mary Ann Maruschak.

He is survived by his adult children, Sam Gillispie and Martha Hanna Gillispie, brother Greg Gillispie and sisters Kay Marten, and Jean Gillispie.

Mark grew up in Perry, Ohio, and graduated from Perry High School before enlisting in the U.S. Army, serving overseas.

Mark was a consummate reporter, working 24 years at The Plain Dealer covering the criminal justice system and other beats. He covered the corruption case of former U.S. Rep. James Traficant and investigated questionable overtime practices by Cleveland police. He joined the AP in 2014.

Beyond his high-quality journalism, Mark had wide interests and talents. He studied theater for a time at Wright State University and appeared in several community theater productions. He had a wonderful singing voice, though he shared it sparingly. He was a voracious reader and an excellent poker player, enjoying the camaraderie as much as the strategy in many basements across Northeast Ohio.

Mark was an accomplished golfer who played most weekends on public courses across Northeast Ohio and took regular trips with friends to Myrtle Beach and Central Florida to play.

He was a generous teacher, whether helping a friend correct his slice, assisting a colleague in digging up information for a story or coaching his children on the baseball diamond.

He never beamed brighter than when talking about his kids, their interests, their work and especially their potential.

Mark was a gourmet cook who would just as easily make a rack-of-lamb feast as serve burgers for a Super Bowl party, though he wasn’t big on doing the dishes.

Mark had a tender heart and was fiercely loyal to those who found their way around, over or through the walls he constructed to protect it.

He was his wife’s primary caregiver before her death from brain cancer, writing about the experience for the AP in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We knew it would be our last Thanksgiving and Christmas together, giving those holidays an unspoken poignancy for us, our two grown children and our families,” he wrote. “Discussions about death are difficult; we chose to live in the moment and ignore how time was being so cruelly tolled.”

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