CLEVELAND, Ohio -- If it was not for Jerome Fine, we may never have had Superman.

Family members said this morning that Fine, 97, of Cleveland Heights, died Dec. 25.

Sometime in the early 1930s, Jerome Fine heard that his friend, Joe Shuster, was transferring to Glenville High School.

"Joe and I went to elementary school together and he was always an amazing artist," Fine said in 2009 at the first (and only) meeting of the Siegel and Shuster families in Cleveland. "I remember he created the most incredible colored maps and he showed me how he did it. We did a comic strip together for the newspaper called "Jerry The Journalist," where I was depicted as a grasshopper."

Fine urged Shuster to look up his cousin, Jerry Siegel, when he got to Glenville High School. "He did and they started working together at the Glenville Torch," Fine said. "The rest is history, isn't it?"

And what a history it is. Siegel and Shuster began a working relationship that came to fruition in 1938 when Superman graced the cover of the first issue of "Action Comics" No. 1, fulfilling a lifelong dream.

Fine's brother, Irving, carries on the family legacy as a founding member of the Siegel and Shuster Society, a non-profit group formed to honor the two men and their creation.

Here is Fine's obituary from the Cleveland Jewish News:

Jerome Fine, age 97, died Dec. 25, 2013. World War II Army Air Corps veteran. Beloved husband of the late Gladys Fine (nee Dworkin); devoted father of Jeff (Sandie) Fine, Michael (Claire) Fine of Calif., and Karen (Michael) Weinberger of Akron, Ohio; loving grandfather of Chad (Andrea) Fine, Jason (Genelle) Denzin, Brandon (Edyta) Halprin, Evan (Brandy) Halprin, Troy, Kasey, Darcy and Daniel Fine, and Erin (Rabbi Matthew) Cohen; loving great grandfather of seven; dear brother of Irving (Gloria) Fine and the following deceased: Ruth Stein, Annabel Fine and Mildred Kaplan.

Services will be held at Berkowitz-Kumin-Bookatz Memorial Chapel, 1985 S. Taylor Rd., Cleveland Hts. Sunday, Dec. 29 at 1 p.m. Interment Bet Olam Cemetery. Family will receive friends at the Jeff and Sandie Fine residence, 6801 Silkwood Ln., Solon Sunday following interment until 9 p.m. and Monday from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. Friends will be received at the Karen and Michael Weinberger residence in Akron Tuesday from 1-4 pm only.

Donations to charity of choice.