Editing Ralph Perk (section)

==Early life==
Born to an ethnic [[Czech Americans|Czech American]] family in Cleveland, Perk dropped out of high school at 15 and later took correspondence courses to earn his high-school diploma. He studied history, political science and mathematics at the Cleveland College of [[Case Western Reserve University]] and [[St. John's College, Cleveland|St. John's College]] in Cleveland.<ref name="perk-ech">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Perk, Ralph J.|url= https://case.edu/ech/articles/p/perk-ralph-j|encyclopedia= The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History |publisher= [[Case Western Reserve University]] |access-date= June 9, 2021}}</ref> During the [[Great Depression]] he worked as a [[Patternmaker (engineering)|patternmaker]], then worked with his brother George in running the Perk Coal and Ice Company. He went on to work in real estate, but returned to patternmaking during [[World War II]] to aid in the war effort, after the military rejected him due to earlier health problems resulting from [[kidney stones]].<ref name="perk-ech"/> Perk then moved into politics, becoming a precinct committeeman for Cleveland's Republican Party in 1940 and then assuming the leadership of the Southeast Air Pollution Committee tasked with fighting industrial pollution in [[the Flats]].<ref name="perk-ech"/>