Art Garnes

Arthur David "Art" Garnes was an Alliance, Ohio educator and civic leader who spent decades in public schools and later served ten years as president of Alliance City Council. He died peacefully at home in Alliance on 17 September 2026 at the age of 78, surrounded by family, after a battle with cancer that had led him into hospice care and forced his resignation from council earlier that summer.

Garnes was born on 30 November 1947 in Galion, Ohio, to the Rev. Herbert Spencer Garnes Jr. and Betty Reese Garnes. He graduated from Alliance High School in 1965 and Mount Union College in 1969, earned a master's in education in 1974, and completed a superintendent's license and EdS at Kent State University in 1978, with further study at Youngstown State and Ashland. He began teaching special education at Carrollton High School in 1969, moved to State Street Middle School (1970-74), then supervised special education across North Canton, Louisville, Massillon and Alliance schools (1974-78). He was Alliance's director of pupil personnel services (1979-92), assistant superintendent (1992-97), and superintendent of Alliance City Schools until 2004, working for years from Glamorgan Castle.

In 2016 he was elected president of Alliance City Council and won re-election across five terms. Colleagues and Mayor Andy Grove praised his steady leadership for the city's welfare. In mid-2026, after nearly two years with cancer including surgery to remove a kidney, he developed wasting syndrome, moved into hospice, and resigned effective 23 July 2026 so the council could seat someone able to run meetings. The Stark County Republican Party managed the vacancy process; he died two months later.

Beyond office, Garnes was a pillar of Alliance civic life: a longtime member of St. Paul's Lutheran Church (lay reader, Sunday-school teacher, finance and property chair, council member); more than forty years in Alliance Rotary, twice Rotarian of the Year and a Paul Harris Fellow, and longtime chair of the Rotary Youth Leadership Conference; board service for the YMCA, Goodwill, Family Counseling, Salvation Army, Alliance Senior Center, and Castle Crusaders (including as president); and a certified Ohio hunter-education instructor. An avid outdoorsman, he hunted near Carrollton and fished in Nakina, Canada, and summered with his wife Cindy on Plum Island, Massachusetts.

He was preceded in death by his parents and sister-in-law Debbie Garnes. He is survived by Cindy, his wife of 56 years; daughters Sara (Mike) Picone and Rachel (Brian) Baker; grandchildren Michael, Domenic, Samuel, Reese and Molly; brothers Rev. Herbert Spencer Garnes III and William (Lisa) Garnes; and nephew Herbert (Bert) Spencer Garnes IV (Kris). Visitation and a funeral were set for 9-10 October 2026 at St. Paul's Lutheran Church. Memorial gifts were directed to the Castle Crusaders, the Art and Cindy Garnes Scholarship Foundation, or the church. On People Forever he is remembered as Alliance's long-serving council president and educator who stayed a servant of his hometown to the end.