People Archives - Page 13 of 21 - Pittsburgh Quarterly

“Just don’t tell Baba our chicken is better.” It’s the only request Ryah asks customers who stop by to visit Leena’s, the food truck she operates out of a ’91 Chevy Step Van that began its life delivering the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Baba is her father, Mohammad, who grew up in a Palestinian refugee camp before …

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American Spirit

Seeing a Garden in a Pile of Debris

by Kate Benz, photography by John Altdorfer

Julia had fired up the chainsaw because she had been bored, really. Retirement had been fun for an hour or two, but she needed something to do. She had grown tired of watching people dump things in the vacant lot adjacent to her East Hills home: couches, loveseats, enough beer cans to make you a …

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Profiles

Jim Withers, M.D., Street Doctor

by Jeff Sewald

My father was a country doctor; my mom, a nurse. Their relationship was grounded in the values of service and compassion, and they included their children—me, for sure—in that vision. So I made house calls with my dad and, among other things, got to practice parallel parking while delivering Meals on Wheels with my mother, …

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Arrivals

Rivera-Tinsley, Spaulding, Anderson, Farmer, Zangerle, Leonardo, Earnshaw

by PQ Staff

Camila Rivera-Tinsley is the director of education at the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy. She comes to Pittsburgh from The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education in Philadelphia, where she specialized in private/public partnerships, doubled the number of students served by the center’s environmental education programming, and increased staff diversity by creating a communitybased job pipeline utilizing mentorship. …

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Obituaries

Washington, Nunn, Litman, Palmer, Page, Filoni

by PQ Staff

Milt Washington, 81: Washington was the long-time owner of Allegheny Rehabilitation Housing Corp.—one of the largest black-owned businesses in Pennsylvania. He was a man with a tremendous work ethic, and his success in providing low-income housing and in several other businesses he owned allowed him to become a committed civic leader as well. He led …

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Profiles

Tunnels of Love

by Richard Snodgrass

First, you had to pull the red wicker settee with its circus-striped cushions a few feet away from the wall. Then you put the army surplus table Mother sometimes used for the sewing machine next to that, in front of the closed-in fireplace; and if Father wasn’t using them for the work he brought home …

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Profiles

Among the Trees

by Douglas Heuck

As Meg Cheever said, “The best park in Pittsburgh is the one you are in.” She founded the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy in 1996 at a time when Pittsburgh was a long way from claiming victory in stemming the tide of decline that still clung to the city. With a band of determined supporters, she stepped …

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American Spirit

Mario’s Corner of the World in Sewickley

by Kate Benz, photography by John Altdorfer

Mario spends most of his life in the dungeon. That’s what he likes to call his Sewickley Shoe Repair shop, the dungeon, although his beaming face betrays him. His customers come from all over—Aliquippa, Cranberry, Erie, Weirton—ready to launch with their “savior of my sole” puns. They’re mostly right, because there isn’t much that Mario …

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Profiles

The Death of a Homeless Man

by Douglas Heuck

Last week, I got the news that I knew one day would come. Joe Regoli had died. Back in 1988, I wrote a series about Pittsburgh’s homeless, based on my living on the streets for 14 days and nights, undercover, with long hair and a beard. I was 26, and the Pittsburgh Press series changed …

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Arrivals

Richardson, Hamlet, White, McNally, Patrick, George, Crudele, Walker

by PQ Staff

Kathy Brittain Richardson is the 15th president of Westminster College. She comes to western Pennsylvania from Mt. Berry, Ga., where she was provost and professor of communication at Berry College. A native of Douglasville, Ga., she earned a bachelor of arts in communication and religion/philosophy, summa cum laude, from Shorter College, a master’s degree in …

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Profiles

Vivien Li, River Keeper

by Jeff Sewald

My parents came from educated families in China and Hong Kong and immigrated to the United States. My mother arrived in the early ’50s as an undergraduate while my father, who was 10 years her senior, was studying for a Ph.D. Back then, it was difficult for Asians to come here. The immigration laws were …

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Obituaries

Gould, Kolar, Paris, Winter, Cardille, Oelschlager, Mosites, Williams

by PQ Staff

Rodney S. Gould, 93 Gould captained the undergraduate Cornell crew team where he later earned a law degree. He flew 35 World War II combat missions over Germany as a B-17 Bomber navigator. He was vice president of the Blaw-Knox Company and later Dravo Corporation and was very involved in community affairs, chairing the YMCA …

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American Spirit

Gino

by Kate Benz, photography by John Altdorfer

Dinners plus two daily sides and bread…$6 each reads the inner page of a card-sized, laminated menu. Breaded Veal, Roast Beef, Cube Steak, Hot Sausage, Meatloaf, Chicken…all $6.00. The bread comes from Mancini’s, “Proudly Served” according to the banner hanging from the ceiling. Photography by John Altdorfer Gino has been operating his namesake restaurant at …

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American Spirit

The Basement of Precision

by Kate Benz, photography by John Altdorfer

The fork brace will steady the custom-built 1973 FXE that’s currently in progress. Right now, it’s sitting on a lift in the garage that sits in the alley behind Jeff’s house, sandwiched between single rows of towering red T&E tool chests and a ’75 Camaro waiting patiently for plates and insurance. That unsteadiness is what …

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American Spirit

Offering a Way Out

by Kate Benz, photography by John Altdorfer

There are about two dozen men—black, white, young, old—gathered in a well-lit commercial space that occupies 704 Main Street, Sharpsburg. In the front window is a white cross with an orange life preserver draped over it that reads Jesus Saves Lives. Anchored against the interior wall, in front of floor-to-ceiling mirrors hangs a wooden cross—about …

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Arrivals

Rogers, Hundorfean, da Silva, Finegold, Clouser, Dermody, Bartlett

by PQ Staff

Susan Rogers is vice chancellor for communications at the University of Pittsburgh. She comes to Pittsburgh from Dallas, where she was vice president for university advancement at The University of Texas at Dallas. Previously, she was associate vice chancellor for university relations in the office of advancement at the University of Arkansas and director of …

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Profiles

Clint Hurdle, Baseball Impresario

by Jeff Sewald

I believe that all people inherently have at least one passion. And if that passion can be turned into a livelihood, life becomes special. I’ve had a passion for the game of baseball since I was 5 years old. And now, at the age of 58, instead of running to my backyard to play the …

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Profiles

Words of Wisdom

by Jeff Sewald

“Reviewing the following excerpts from some of the 40 first–person profiles I created for the magazine over the past 10 years was an emotional experience for me. How many people get to choose from among the most prominent individuals in their hometown and spend time with them learning their life stories? Some have passed on …

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Obituaries

Dantry, Dunn, Wertz, Gentile, Jannetta, Lee, Campbell

by PQ Staff

Jay Dantry, 87 Dantry was a leading light of Pittsburgh’s literary scene through his bookstore, Jay’s Bookstall, which he opened in 1959 and ran until it closed in 2008. The eclectic store on Fifth Avenue in Oakland attracted giants from the literary world for readings and signings including Margaret Atwood, E.L Doctorow, Stephen King, John …

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American Spirit

James Dean

by Kate Benz, photography by John Altdorfer

Half of James Dean’s body is under the hood of a ’63 Chevelle that’s missing all of its doors, a portion of his 50 years hanging over navy blue work pants as he twists awkwardly, trying to get the right angle. He’s in the middle of grinding a piece of metal, orange-tipped sparks cascading overhead …

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Profiles

Esther L. Barazzone, Educator & Administrator

by Jeff Sewald

I grew up in Bluefield, W.Va., a town of about 16,000, which had no “wrong side” of the tracks—because it was all tracks, for trains moving coal out of southern West Virginia. I lived there with my mother, stepfather and three brothers. Three out of four of my grandparents were immigrants—from Italy, Belgium and Ireland—and, …

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Obituaries

Allison, Massaro, Olander, Harris, Kaiser, Murdoch, Burke, Copetas

by PQ Staff

Susan Allison, 75 A longtime resident of Erie and Sewickley Heights, “Susie” Allison helped her husband, Craig, build a number of businesses, including Tollgrade Communications, which became one of Pittsburgh’s most successful public companies during the dot-com boom under the leadership of their son Chris. She later devoted her energies to philanthropy, focusing on adoption, …

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