Mayor Gary Werner

Previous Mayors:

Gary F. Werner currently serves as the eleventh Mayor of the City of Brunswick.  Gary previously served on Brunswick's City Council as the Ward 1 Councilman from January 2004 until December 2007, during which time he also served as the City's Vice Mayor for two years.  Following the untimely death in November 2008 of Gary's close friend and colleague, Councilwoman-at-Large Susan Hambley, Gary was appointed by Council to complete her term, which concluded in December 2009. 

Gary previously chaired Council's Finance, Planning & Zoning, and Economic Development Committees.  Prior to being on Council, Gary also served on the City's Board of Zoning Appeals for three and one-half years.  He was a Council representative to the City’s Planning Commission, a member of the Steering Committee for the City’s most recent Comprehensive Plan, and he has worked with the City’s Charter Review Commission.

Gary is a trial attorney, rated AV by Martindale Hubbell (its highest rating), and is a member of the Beachwood law firm of Berns Ockner & Greenberger, LLC.  His law practice concentrates on zoning, planning, eminent domain, municipal and commercial law, and business transactions.  He lectures regularly on topics which have included regulatory takings of property, township zoning, subdivision regulations, mechanic's liens, and the Ohio Marketable Title Act.  Before becoming a lawyer, Gary worked in many different professions, including as a professional drummer, breakfast cook, bindery supervisor, janitor, delivery driver and encyclopedia salesman.

Gary received his B.A. in economics summa cum laude from the University of California at Los Angeles, and his J.D. from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles.  He is a Phi Beta Kappa member and a member of Phi Delta Phi, an honorary legal fraternity.  He is admitted to practice in the State of California and the State of Ohio, before the Federal District Courts for the Central District of California and the Northern and Southern Districts of Ohio, and before the Sixth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals.

Gary is a member of the American, Medina County, and Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Associations, and of the Medina County Home Builder's Association.  He is a First Degree Knight with the Knights of Columbus (Council #4847) out of Brunswick’s St. Ambrose Parish and he is a parishioner and lector at St. Colette's Parish in Brunswick.

Gary first moved to Brunswick with his family in 1976 from Cleveland, Ohio, where he was born in 1962.  He later graduated from Brunswick High School in 1979.  Gary has since 1991 been married to Lori J. Werner, whom he met in Florida in 1984, where she was a show group singer in a resort club where Gary was drumming.  They have a daughter, Megan, and a son, Maxwell, a singer and a drummer respectively.  

Gary takes seriously the privilege of public service and the public trust he is charged with maintaining.  He has committed to serving as Mayor without taking a salary to show his understanding of government’s need to restrain itself, especially in these trying economic times.  You may reach Gary to discuss your comments, questions or concerns at 330-225-3330 or at gwerner@brunswick.oh.us.