GORDON JOSELOFF AND WOODY BLISS

MAY 10th

Westport & Weston Selectmen, Gordon Joseloff, and Woody Bliss will speak to the Y's Men of Westport/Weston at their weekly meeting on May 10 about “A Westport and Weston Update.” The meeting begins at 10AM at the Saugatuck Congregational Church, 245 Post Road East.

Gordon F. Joseloff is a Westporter whose family ties to the town go back 90 years. Born in New York City in 1945, Joseloff moved with his family a short time later to Westport. He attended Saugatuck Elementary School and Bedford Elementary School (now Town Hall) and was among the first students to attend Coleytown Elementary School when it opened in 1953.

Joseloff's award-winning, around-the-world journalism career began in his hometown. In 1961, he and three other teenagers began a student-run radio station in Westport, WWPT. With studios in the Westport YMCA and transmitter at Compo Beach, the station broadcast music and news with Joseloff as its 16-year- old news director. The next summer, he was hired by the Westport Town Crier, Westport 's only weekly newspaper at the time. The memory of his experience there was instrumental in his decision 30 years later to run for the RTM.

After graduating from Syracuse University in 1967, Joseloff spent more than two decades with United Press International and CBS News in New York, London, Moscow, and Tokyo covering many of the world's major news events. In 1984, he was awarded an "Emmy" for his coverage of the assassination of India 's Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. He returned to Westport in 1989.

In 1991, he was elected a member of the RTM from District 8. Two years later, he was elected RTM Deputy Moderator. In 1995, his fellow legislators elected him Moderator, a post to which they re-elected him annually until his recent election as First Selectman.

During his tenure on the RTM, Joseloff served as chair of its Education Committee, Computer Committee and Rules Committee. He also served on the Public Protection Committee, Environment Committee, Ethics Committee, Long-Range Planning Committee, and Ordinance Committee.

Among Joseloff's many initiatives was creation of the citizens' School Building Committee, which oversaw the multi-million dollar building, renovation and expansion of the Westport school system since 1997 and he launched the town's "town hall" electronic mailing list initiative in 1998, a first among Connecticut municipalities. And he was instrumental in establishing live television cable coverage of Westport town meetings, starting with the RTM.

Joseloff serves on the Westport Historical Society's Advisory Board and is a member of the Westport/Weston First Night Advisory Board as well as a member of the Westport League of Women Voters, the Westport Arts Center and the Westport Rotary Club. In 2003, Joseloff launched a local community news website, WestportNow.com. Upon taking office, he turned over editorial control to others but retained a financial interest in the company.

In 1915 Robert Joseloff, Gordon's grandfather, purchased a downtown property adjacent to the old Westport Town Hall from William Nash and opened Westport's first movie house there in 1916, the Fine Arts Theatre. The property remains in the Joseloff family. Joseloff is the divorced father of a son & a daughter, both of whom went through the Westport school system

Woody Bliss was born in Minnesota and graduated from Cornell University as a mechanical engineer. He has been active in community affairs for many years, including serving as a county chairman for the United Way, a board member and fund raising chairman for the Fairfield County Boy Scout Council. He was Vice Chairman of the Board of Education, when he lived in Amherst , NY. In Weston, he has served on the Board of Finance for three years, the Panel of Moderators for ten years, including four years as chairman. He is long time member of the Kiwanis Club and a past president. He founded the Weston Kiwanis Club Foundation and served as its first President. He was elected to the Weston Board of Selectmen in 1999 and is currently serving as First Selectmen.

Woody worked for IBM for 34 years and retired in 1993. He started as a Applied Science Representative using computers for military applications in the aerospace industry. He held numerous positions in systems engineering, marketing and management. Among his responsibilities at IBM were Director of Education for North and South America and the Pacific Rim. He currently is President of Business Atlantic, Inc., a company involved in high tech education consulting. Woody and Prue moved to Weston 28 years ago. They have three grown children, all of whom graduated from Weston High School and have four grandchildren.