People Archives - Pittsburgh Quarterly

In 2000, Johnny Diaz fled the Dominican Republic and the rampant corruption that hampered his business career. If you needed to get something done, he says, you had to bribe someone. He moved to Norwalk, Conn., where he got a job managing a Walmart. In the same town the following year, Grecia Vasquez was studying …

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Obituaries People

Springer, Thorbecke, Sagan, King, Miclot, Wolfley, Tansky, Wholey, Myers, Fagan, Tambellini, Kampmeinert, Hotopp, Truter

by PQ Staff

Cecile Springer, 94Armed with master’s degrees in chemistry and urban and regional planning, Springer was well prepared for a diverse life. A research chemist for Bristol Myers and Schering Pharmaceuticals, she joined Westinghouse Electric as manager of product development for the Advanced Energy Systems Division. From 1978 to 1989, she served as director of Contributions …

Springer, Thorbecke, Sagan, King, Miclot, Wolfley, Tansky, Wholey, Myers, Fagan, Tambellini, Kampmeinert, Hotopp, Truter Read More »

American Spirit Arts Culture

Gorson Bio and an Exhibit at The Westmoreland

by Maxwell King

The first two decades of the 20th century were an extraordinary time for Pittsburgh and for the whole world that bought the steel produced in western Pennsylvania’s mills. The Pittsburgh region dominated the world in the production of steel, and that new alloy utterly changed civilization as the new century advanced. The cars, trucks, rails, bridges, skyscrapers and airplanes that heralded a …

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Profiles

What Do I Know? David Holmberg

by Jeff Sewald

I grew up in Columbus, Ohio, where my father did factory work for General Electric and Westinghouse. My mother was a nurse. We never starved, but we didn’t have a lot. We were just a middle-class, fundamentally stable family. And the expectation in our home always was: If you wanted more, you had to do …

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Obituaries People

Lange, Maher, Garber, Linaberger, Bowers, Burnett, Wettick, Effort, Gaines, Veale, Rayvid, Blank

by PQ Staff

Mike Lange, 76He spent 46 seasons as the play-by-play voice of the Pittsburgh Penguins, creating some of the most memorable sayings in the process. “It’s a hockey night in Pittsburgh!” he would announce during a career that chronicled Mario Lemieux, Sid Crosby and the history of the franchise in Pittsburgh. A Hockey Hall of Famer …

Lange, Maher, Garber, Linaberger, Bowers, Burnett, Wettick, Effort, Gaines, Veale, Rayvid, Blank Read More »

Profiles

What Do I Know? Dr. José-Alain Sahel

by Jeff Sewald

I was born in Tlemcen, Algeria, a small city on the border with Morocco. My family is Jewish, of Spanish ancestry, and had been in Algeria for centuries. Both sides of my family were poor and struggled often just to eat. My grandfather on my father’s side was severely injured during World War II and …

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Books Culture History Profiles

Pittsburgh’s Mal Goode: Television’s First Black Broadcaster

by Richard “Pete” Peterson

On Oct. 28, 1962, the three major television networks interrupted their scheduled programs to broadcast a special report on what would become known as the Cuban Missile Crisis. This was a critical moment not only in American history, but also in the integration of American broadcasting. Just a few months earlier, ABC, at the urging …

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American Spirit Opinion

Nashville, Pennsylvania

by Sandee Gertz

After an 11-year exile to Nashville, Tennessee, I finally woke up smelling Pittsburgh. I woke from dreams of flying through the Conemaugh Gap, inhaling the untouched scent of the Laurel and Cresson mountains surrounding my hometown of Johnstown, and continued across Route 22 to the musky smells of the Monongahela and into the mist of bridges …

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People Profiles

What Do I Know? Stanley Druckenmiller

by Jeff Sewald

I was born in 1953 in Philadelphia and grew up in New Jersey and Virginia. By the eighth grade, I had attended six public schools before being enrolled at a private day school in the ninth grade. My father, who was a chemistry major in college, worked for Dupont and ended up in labor relations. …

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People

Noteworthy Winter 2025

by PQ Staff

(Editor’s note: this story was originally published Dec. 3) Stick Up for U.S. SteelOne thing the U.S. presidential aspirants had in common this year is they all came out against the U.S. Steel/Nippon Steel deal. U.S. Steel chose the Japanese steelmaker because Nippon is willing to pay a much higher price than the other bidder, …

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Education Nature People Pittsburgh Tomorrow

A Pilot Program Flies

by Douglas Heuck

Early this year, we wrote letters to the principals of all 88 high schools in Allegheny County asking them to nominate one sophomore and one junior (one boy, one girl) to the initial congress for the Allegheny Conservation Corps, an initiative for high school students to create community projects. The idea was threefold: physically improve …

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Obituaries People

Boudreau, Thompson, Aston, Bozzone, Hall, McNulty, Kalaris, Pais, Chahine, Johnson, Holzer

by PQ Staff

Robert Boudreau, 97In 1957 he conducted his first concert on the banks of the Allegheny in a former coal barge called the Point Counterpoint I. That was the beginning of the American Wind Symphony, which Boudreau founded and led as music director for the next 60 years. With the Point Counterpoint II, designed by Louis …

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People Profiles

What Do I Know? Rev. Paul Abernathy

by Jeff Sewald

One day, years ago, I asked my congregation in the Hill District where each church member was when 9/11 happened. I remembered where I was, as did most everyone else, and we all shared our recollections. But when the conversation turned to a particular woman, she replied, “I don’t know.” “You don’t know?” I asked. …

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People Profiles

The Art of Compromise

by Douglas Heuck

Q. You’ve been a leader in the Pittsburgh community for decades, serving as president of the Mt. Lebanon School Board, managing partner of Pittsburgh’s oldest and most prestigious law firm — Reed Smith, president of the Allegheny County Bar Association and the Academy of Trial Lawyers, board member of several nonprofits and through your private …

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People Profiles

A Pittsburgher’s Plan to Get America Back on Track

by David McCormick

Editor’s note: Over the past 15 years, when Pittsburghers including Dan Onorato and John Fetterman have run for statewide or national office, Pittsburgh Quarterly has given them the opportunity to share their views. In this issue, U.S. Senate candidate and Pittsburgher David McCormick writes about why he’s running. I’ve always been proud to call Pittsburgh …

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People Pittsburgh Immigration

Casa San Jose

by Beth Marcello

Monica Ruiz, a half-Guatemalan American citizen fluent in Spanish, was born and raised in Cleveland. But when Pittsburghers tell her to “go back where you came from” — an insult she hears weekly — they’re not talking about her returning to Cleveland. Ruiz has a theory about why so many Pittsburghers are antagonistic towards her …

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American Spirit Regional News

Sailing at the Point

by Joe Kirk

It’s a brisk early-June Saturday morning on the North Shore just downriver from the Point. A light breeze is moving in from the west on the Allegheny River. Almost a dozen high school girls and boys from several Pittsburgh and suburban schools gather at an under-used concrete riverfront amphitheater, jabbering away while looping their arms …

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Obituaries People

Anderson, O’Brien, Cohon, Roddey, Miller, O’Reilly, Johnson, Zockoll, Ostrowski, Wecht, D’Andrea, Szabo, Kopf Jr.

by PQ Staff

Barbara Anderson, 89Her career as an award-winning costume designer, professor and associate dean of Carnegie Mellon’s College of Fine Arts spanned more than 45 years. She worked on numerous theater, television and film productions and co-wrote the definitive textbook on costume design with her late husband, Cletus Anderson, whom she met while getting an MA …

Anderson, O’Brien, Cohon, Roddey, Miller, O’Reilly, Johnson, Zockoll, Ostrowski, Wecht, D’Andrea, Szabo, Kopf Jr. Read More »

American Spirit People

Waiting For…

by John Beale

So many people waiting. In Monroeville, paramedic Dave Sherman was waiting to respond to another emergency call. In Indiana Township, Lucas Goeller was waiting for a life-saving liver transplant. In Mt. Lebanon, Emily Eagleton and Laura Handy were waiting to become parents. In East Deer Township, dozens of motorists were waiting in a construction zone. …

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People Pittsburgh Immigration Profiles

What Do I Know? Khara Timsina

by Jeff Sewald

I was born in a small village in southern Bhutan, the second of nine children — five boys and four girls. Luckily, my siblings and I, and our parents, were able to emigrate to the West in 2009. My father died here in Pittsburgh in 2021, and my mother still lives locally, in Brentwood. But …

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Obituaries Profiles

Judge Jeffrey Manning Broke the Mold

by Mark Schwartz

We lawyers who go to court participate in what amounts to a contact sport, choosing sides in an all-out adversary process. Too bad if the other side loses. Winner takes all. Justice done. Over and out. Judge Jeffrey Manning passed away this month. Back in the mid-1970s only 3 or 4 years out of law …

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Pittsburgh Immigration Profiles

Tuomas Sandholm: AI’s Benefits Far Outweigh its Dangers- Here’s Why

by Tracy Certo

For Tuomas Sandholm, it’s no contest. The co-director of Carnegie Mellon University Artificial Intelligence (CMU AI) firmly believes the benefits of artificial intelligence far outweigh the downsides. “AI can make better decisions than humans, which will make the world a better place,” he says. To better understand his perspective, look at his track record. In …

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