Born in Massillon, Ohio in 1977; Kurt was born with congenital cataracts causing him to have several eye surgeries for the first year of his life. As a result, he will forever be legally blind. At age seven, in 1984, Kurt was diagnosed with glaucoma to which his mother told him, "Today it is OK to cry, but tomorrow we fight." Forty years later, Kurt still maintains his eye sight and with normal range pressures thanks to regular check ups and medications.
In his home, politics was discussed with the family. Political Conventions, Debates, Election Nights, Inaugurations, and State of the Union Addresses were big events. Kurt's parents even took he and his siblings to a few rallies for presidential candidates.
Growing up, because he was not very active in sports; Kurt took to reading a lot, mostly history books and writing. In fact, during his sophomore year at Uniontown (Ohio) Lake High School his class took a writing competency test. A perfect score was 4.0 and Kurt earned a 3.9, the highest score of anyone in the entire sophomore class. His senior year of high school saw him winning a scholarship competition in the Delegate category rewarding him a $500 scholarship and a visit by the C-SPAN school bus. Then it was off to Kent State University.
At Kent State, Kurt majored in political science and that first semester got involved with the Kent State University College Democrats. Because of his efforts in the Clinton/Gore re-election, he was rewarded with the position of secretary on that group's executive board. Kurt would attend the 1997 Inauguration and meet Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., in April 1997.
After graduating in 2001, Kurt has found himself working in Akron as a Medicaid Case Manager helping uninsured patients receive free assistance to pay their outstanding hospital bills through the Hospital Care Assurance Program or through Ohio Medicaid.
But politics and history are in his mind. Since 2004, Kurt has befriended Iowa governor Tom Vilsack, who later served as Barack Obama's secretary of agriculture and is currently Joe Biden's secretary of agriculture. They have even visited in the USDA.
Kurt discovered OTRCat.com in 2019 and finds their collections of historic audio most impressive. He recommends them to his family and friends.
Kurt lives in Akron, Ohio with his wife of 16 years; Rachel and their three dogs; Katie, a seven year old Rat Terrier/Maltese mix, Molly, a five year old Havanese/Shih Tzu mix, and Truman, a two year old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel/Poodle mix.