Meet Yarko Kuk

Yarko started as a Blade employee in the early 1980s, as a paperboy in Ottawa Hills. After graduating from Ottawa Hills high school in 1985, he pursued a print communications degree at the University of Toledo, where his father taught foreign languages. From 1985 to 1991 he worked part time for The Blade as a copy messenger / news assistant / reporter.  He had a pair of summer internships, one in 1988 at the Mansfield (Ohio) News-Journal and one in 1989 at the Allentown Morning Call. He was also a reporter and editor for the UT student newspaper, The Collegian, where he got to know such current and former Bladeos as Melissa Burden, Tony Bassett, and Larry Vellequette.

After graduating in 1991 he took a civilian position with the UT Police Department. Over the next 15 years he performed a variety of tasks for the UTPD, including supervising the dispatch office, web design, budget management, grant writing, purchasing, and administering various campus security systems. In 2006 he moved to the Vice President’s office, where he worked with Bill Logie until his retirement in 2011.  Yarko then moved to Human Resources, where he worked until 2015, when he made his final move, this time to the University of Toledo Press. While at the Press he edited and oversaw the production of 22 books on local history, people, and culture, seven of which won awards. He retired in March.

In addition to his 33 years at UT, Yarko was also a part time dispatcher and police officer for the Village of Ottawa Hills Police Department from 1992 to 2009. In 2005 he also purchased the Village Voice of Ottawa Hills, which is the monthly media outlet for Ottawa Hills.

A fan of NASCAR, he enjoys going to races in Daytona and Bristol. He enjoys photography, local history, train travel, and road trips. He tries to visit his relatives in the United Kingdom every couple of years.