Catherine Knerly

Catherine H. Knerly Kaya, n?i��e Arion, died August 22, 2009 in Cleveland, Ohio. Born in Bucharest, Rumania, she was the daughter of Vasile Arion, a prominent architect, and Christine Dozy, the daughter of a Charles Marie Dozy, a diplomat who was successively the Dutch ambassador to Rumania and Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and finally the United Nations. Kaya spent her early years in Argentina, where her stepfather, Charles Kool was the president of Royal Philips Electronics for South America. After attending Northlands school in Buenos Aires, she moved to Switzerland and attended Perce-Neige school in Chateau d'Oex, where she received her baccalaureate. During her schooling in Switzerland, she was an avid skier, specializing in the downhill. On graduation, she had the opportunity to pursue a professional skiing career, but chose instead to attend the École Hôteli?i��re de Lausanne. After graduation, she managed the Caesar Augustus Hotel in Capri before moving to Paris to work in the fashion industry. At the same time, she also achieved a High Cambridge Certificate in English. Her first job in the fashion industry was with Simonetta, where she worked in public relations as well as coordinating the collection with magazines such as Vogue and Women's Wear Daily. Notwithstanding the rigors of the fashion industry, she found time to attend a special course of study at the École du Louvre. In 1972, she married Stephen J. Knerly, Jr. at the American Cathedral in Paris. After marriage, the Knerlys first moved to Boston, Massachusetts where Kaya returned to the hotel business as a manager at the Copley Plaza Hotel. The couple then moved to Cleveland where, thanks to her facility with a number of languages, she became the assistant manager of the Berlitz office in Cleveland. She subsequently worked as a free lance translator before dedicating herself to her family. She is survived by her husband, Stephen J. Knerly, Jr., a partner and immediate past managing partner of the law firm Hahn Loeser & Parks LLP, her beloved daughter, Alexandra Maria Christina Knerly and many cousins literally around the world, but especially Princesse Eugénie de Brancovan. In lieu of flowers, contributions are suggested to the Kaya Knerly Lance Armstrong Foundation Endowment Fund, Lance Armstrong Foundation, 1221 South MoPac Expr. #320, Austin, TX 78746 or the Geauga Humane Society Rescue Village, 15463 Chillicothe Rd., Novelty, OH 44072. Memorial Services will be held at St Paul's Episcopal Church, 2747 Fairmount Blvd, Cleveland Heights, OH on Saturday, August 29th at 11am.


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