People Archives - Pittsburgh Quarterly

Editor’s note: We invited 13 regional leaders to give their thoughts on how to revitalize and reinvigorate Downtown Pittsburgh. Despite numerous emails back and forth with the communications staff of Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey from March 15 to April 20, the Mayor did not offer his thoughts on Downtown Pittsburgh. The responses of 12 other …

Remaking Downtown Pittsburgh, Pt. 5 Read More »

Profiles

Cyril Wecht’s recent death took me back decades to summer of 1978 and Carnegie Mellon University’s tennis courts. Two white guys dressed in tennis whites had finished playing and sat on the grass. In my early twenties and in law school, I was one of them. The other guy, I’ll refer to as “Tom,” was …

An Awkward Introduction to Cyril Wecht Read More »

American Spirit

To Keep Your Balance, You Must Keep Moving

by Lori Jakiela

My daughter Phelan was born in 2004. She knows Winona Ryder from the series Stranger Things. She thinks Johnny Depp’s Wino tattoo is because he has a drinking problem; who knows, not judging. Stranger Things is set in the 1980s. The kids in the show ride bikes with banana seats and handlebar tassels, just like …

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Arrivals People

DeForrest, Singer, Diab, van Baarle, Dragga, Hembree, Rosenthal

by PQ Staff

Jasmin DeForrest has been named managing director of The Heinz Endowments’ Creativity Strategic Area. Previously, she was senior director for Arts and Culture at the Detroit-based Gilbert Family Foundation and has more than 20 years of experience in grantmaking, nonprofit leadership, sponsorship management, entrepreneurship and event production. The Detroit native was community sponsorships director for the …

DeForrest, Singer, Diab, van Baarle, Dragga, Hembree, Rosenthal Read More »

American Spirit Food & Wine

Quest for Cake

by Louise Gray

A birthday celebration calls for a birthday cake and gifts. As far as I’m concerned, forget about the gifts, but keep the cake. My love affair with birthday cakes began when I was four. Each morning on his way to work, my Uncle Eddie drove his two aunts and my mom to their jobs and …

Quest for Cake Read More »

Obituaries People

McGinnis, Bucci, LaDuke, Rescher, Simmons, Beck, Posvar, Reichblum, Donley, Rocco, Snyder, Rierson

by PQ Staff

Gerald “Jerry” McGinnis, 89A celebrated biomedical engineer, McGinnis turned a fledgling medical device company founded in his kitchen in 1976 into Respironics, a global empire that was later bought by Royal Phillips for $1.5 billion. He was the inventor of the first mass-produced breathing machine — a device now used worldwide for sleep apnea and …

McGinnis, Bucci, LaDuke, Rescher, Simmons, Beck, Posvar, Reichblum, Donley, Rocco, Snyder, Rierson Read More »

People Profiles

“Go to the People”

by Jeff Sewald

Inspired by childhood memories of accompanying his physician father and nurse mother on medical calls, Dr. Jim Withers began providing medical care to Pittsburgh’s homeless in 1992. Initially dressing as a homeless person and accompanied by a savvy formerly homeless man, “Dr. Jim” started making regular nightly rounds in alleys and under the city’s bridges. …

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People Pittsburgh Immigration Pittsburgh Tomorrow Profiles

What Do I Know? Guillermo Velazquez

by Jeff Sewald

My story begins in Mexico City. I am the youngest of eight children, and my father passed away from liver disease when I was 11. When someone in your life dies while you are still young, you don’t really understand what’s happening. All I knew was that I saw my father working, and then he …

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People

My Oldest Brother

by Douglas Heuck

Just before 6 a.m. on New Year’s Eve, I got in the car to drive down to Cincinnati, my hometown. I’ve done it 100 times at least since I moved to Pittsburgh 39 years ago. And I’ve done it for all manner of occasions. This time, it was to see my oldest brother. His heart …

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Obituaries People

Jim Roddey: 1933-2024 — Pittsburgh’s Man For All Seasons

by Douglas Heuck

Jim Roddey, the first Allegheny County Executive, a man who came to Pittsburgh mid-career and became one of its greatest advocates and leaders, has passed away at the age of 91. The tributes already are coming from every corner of this region. “Pittsburgh didn’t deserve him, but we benefited from his leadership” was one. Another: …

Jim Roddey: 1933-2024 — Pittsburgh’s Man For All Seasons Read More »

Profiles

Andy Russell, Businessman and Former Steeler

by Jeff Sewald

I grew up with a father who had come over on the boat from Scotland. We moved around a lot. My parents convinced me that every move presented an opportunity to meet new and different people. By the time I entered college in 1959, my father was running Monsanto in Europe.I got a B.S. in …

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American Spirit

The Oliver Building

by Scott Holleran

As the Henry W. Oliver building was completed in terra cotta and granite in 1910, columnist M.E. Gable described the scene: “As you make the turn dipping into the throbbing heart of Pittsburgh, the upper reaches of the building burst upon your vision in all their beauty of architectural triumph. As you get nearer to it …

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People Profiles

“The Levy”

by Evan Pattak

Maurice (pronounced Morris) Levy was a career-long math teacher in Pittsburgh schools. He was beloved for many reasons, including his sense of humor and his unusual way of addressing students. Rather than using their first names, he called each one “Mr.” or “Miss,” teaching his students lessons about respect they didn’t even know they were …

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Profiles

What Do I Know? Chris DeCardy

by Jeff Sewald

I was born in Urbana, Illinois, and grew up in Champaign, its “sister city,” about three hours south of Chicago. I spent my entire childhood there as the only child of a single mother. My folks were divorced when I was very young and, although my dad was in my life, my primary childhood influence …

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Arrivals People Pittsburgh Immigration

Fighting Through Tears

by Tracy Certo

Grisell Espinoza was in limbo in 2014, wondering whether to stay in Pittsburgh or return to her native Venezuela where political turmoil was getting worse. Her only friend in town, a fellow Venezuelan, helped her get work at a restaurant until she could find a job in her profession as a civil engineer. But as …

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People Profiles

Seven Questions for George Greer

by Douglas Heuck

Five years ago, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust named its Cabaret at Theater Square after philanthropic leader George C. Greer. The longtime executive of the H.J. Heinz Company has been perhaps the least known most effective civic leader in Pittsburgh over the past 30 years, eschewing the limelight as he led transformation of the Eden Hall …

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Obituaries People

Conway, Buford, Oshry, Morby, Moriarity, O’Reilly, Nutting, Ochester, Eberle, Courtney

by PQ Staff

Tom Conway, 71 International president of United Steelworkers since 2019, Conway was committed to making things in America and remained unwilling to accept that globalization was better. He tried to make changes in manufacturing that would lead to a cleaner environment and worker health and safety. A legendary negotiator who believed in the union ideal of “stronger …

Conway, Buford, Oshry, Morby, Moriarity, O’Reilly, Nutting, Ochester, Eberle, Courtney Read More »

People

An Evening with Rosalynn Carter

by Ray Werner

It was December 9,1979. The White House was decorated for Christmas, with its majestic, towering Christmas Tree, all ready for the annual lighting that day. What a great welcoming sight. How could this be happening to us? We were there to film First Lady Rosalynn Carter. She had agreed to do some public service commercials for …

An Evening with Rosalynn Carter Read More »