Sponsored by

People

Home › Article › Page 3

To Bail or Not to Bail

by Jennifer Papale Rignani

The president of the Pennsylvania Bail Bond Association is not straight out of central casting. His wife and young daughters write children’s books, and he’s sipped a lot of tea at imaginary princess parties. Matter of fact, he looks more like an underwear model than a tough guy who meets criminals in the dead of …

To Bail or Not to Bail Read More »

Farnam Jahanian, President of Carnegie Mellon University

by Jeff Sewald
I am an immigrant. I left my family’s home in Iran, as so many immigrants have, to pursue an education. My family hails from Tehran, and all of my siblings—five in total, all older—went to college in either Europe or the U.S. But I decided to begin my journey at age 16, and traveled from …

Farnam Jahanian, President of Carnegie Mellon University Read More »

Kim Keeps the Coffee Coming

by Kate Benz
None of the regulars are here yet. Like the Daves: Candy Man Dave and Home Depot Dave and Eyeglass Dave. None of the Riches, either. Except for one of them. He’s sitting at a window booth and is about to get a fresh cup of coffee and a plate filled with two eggs sunny side …

Kim Keeps the Coffee Coming Read More »

‘Crack-A-Lacking’ for a Living

by Kate Benz
There’s a banana pumpkin scented candle flickering on the front desk. It’s a nice scent. Very deceiving. As if something yummy and caloric just popped out of Betty Crocker’s personal oven. Then, there’s the sign on the window welcoming walk-ins and talking about things like headaches and low back pain and shoulder and arm pain …

‘Crack-A-Lacking’ for a Living Read More »

The Mail’s Man in Munhall

by Kate Benz
It’s three o’clock on a Friday afternoon, and there are people coming into the post office on Main Street with letters to mail and packages to ship and books of stamps to buy and not one of them can resist the candy. Cinnamon drops and peppermints and, “Oh, is that butterscotch? I’ll take two,” sitting …

The Mail’s Man in Munhall Read More »

Massaro, Weiss, Fralic, Coleman, Hughes, Grunbaum, Hickey, Rich

by PQ Staff
Carol Massaro, 79: A mother of four, she raised nearly $1 million for Alzheimer’s research after the disease took her late husband, contractor Joseph A. Massaro Jr. She was a woman of tremendous energy and generosity, serving as an indefatigable volunteer for organizations across the city. Jack Weiss, 85: His father died when he was …

Massaro, Weiss, Fralic, Coleman, Hughes, Grunbaum, Hickey, Rich Read More »

Compassion, Mindfulness and Resilience

by Douglas Heuck
A native of California, Dr. Barry Kerzin is a Buddhist monk and the physician to the Dalai Lama. He sat down with Pittsburgh Quarterly to discuss his recent visit to Pittsburgh. Q. You’re here to work with many of UPMC’s 16,000 nurses for training in compassion, mindfulness and resilience. How do you do this? A. …

Compassion, Mindfulness and Resilience Read More »

The 96th Birthday

by Kate Benz
Grandma is being really nice about the birthday cake you insisted on baking from scratch for her 96th birthday. Because it’s a little … dense for something that was supposed to very light and airy and angel food cakey. “This is why normal people just buy the Betty Crocker and be done with it,” howls …

The 96th Birthday Read More »

Chin Music

by Evan Pattak
In late August 2018, Pittsburgh Mayor Bill peduto looked at his calendar and was pleased to notice a rarity—a nine-day break without a scheduled public appearance. He celebrated his unusually long vacation in an unusual way. “I didn’t shave during those nine days,” he recalls.“ I made a conscious decision that I wouldn’t go anywhere …

Chin Music Read More »

Holland, Beltran, Lee, Hayes, Kiser, Welsch, Griffith

by PQ Staff
Michael Holland is vice chancellor for science policy and research strategies at the University of Pittsburgh. He is the first to hold the new appointment. His duties include developing and implementing university research policies and strategies to support collaborations across a range of disciplines. He also oversees the creation of major research initiatives. Holland, a …

Holland, Beltran, Lee, Hayes, Kiser, Welsch, Griffith Read More »

Seamstress to the Stars

by Kate Benz
There are fittings on Thursday. Eight costumes still left to make and only two weeks to make them before the first dress rehearsal for The Great Gatsby. And Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre costume designer Janet Campbell is calm. Totally calm, actually. Not a hair out of place. Looking amazingly pulled together, as if the only thing …

Seamstress to the Stars Read More »

Consensus Builder

by Jonathan Callard
Mark Nordenberg’s cell phone lights up. He smiles to see a call from Herb Douglas, the oldest living African-American Olympic medalist and a University of Pittsburgh alum. Douglas hails from Pittsburgh’s Hazelwood neighborhood, where some community advocates raise questions about how residents will fare amidst the mammoth Hazelwood Green development project currently under construction. “Are …

Consensus Builder Read More »

The Man Who Was Too Nice to be a Car Salesman

by Kate Benz
Mark just got his desk back. It’s a nice spot in the showroom of Ron Lewis Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram in Cranberry. Right next to the doors. Right in front of the nearly floor to ceiling windows, where outside there is a shiny red Jeep next to other shiny cars and trucks and SUVs that …

The Man Who Was Too Nice to be a Car Salesman Read More »

Remembering Prominent Pittsburghers Who Passed Away in 2018

by PQ Staff
From Adam Lynch to Barbara Luderowski, we’ve said goodbye to many influential Pittsburghers this year. Remember those who have passed away and their impact on the region—and the world—in this compilation of our Last Chapter department. Nadine Bognar, 87: The co-owner of Bognar and Company, a supplier of coke and coal for the steel industry, …

Remembering Prominent Pittsburghers Who Passed Away in 2018 Read More »

Abby’s World of Cut and Curl

by Kate Benz
Yesterday was crazy. Like, insanely crazy. Flat irons straightening and curling irons curling and shears cutting and the coloring and shampooing and highlighting. All—day—long. “My bun started off here,” Abby Fitzer laughs, pointing to her head, “And as the day went on, it just started to flop around a bit so that it eventually ended …

Abby’s World of Cut and Curl Read More »

Ross, Vandermade, Limbach, Brinkman, Colville, Fisher, Watson, Lexie, Russell, Gorman, Capobianco

by PQ Staff
Eunice Mercedes Latshaw Ross, 94: Blazing a trail for women in the field of law wasn’t easy for Ross. She became an Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas judge in 1972, when few women held such positions. She was an expert in probate law whose opinions were considered masterful. But when she reported that soon-to-be …

Ross, Vandermade, Limbach, Brinkman, Colville, Fisher, Watson, Lexie, Russell, Gorman, Capobianco Read More »

Mary and the Laundromutt

by Kate Benz
Right now, Rudy the Doodle is on the grooming table. Mary is giving him the Full Groom. “Everything,” she says, snipping away at his curly, toffee colored fur with a pair of Japanese shears, which are also her favorite kind. Snip. Snip. Snip. “Hair trimmed.” Snip. Snip. “Combed his head.” Snip. Snip. “Did his nails …

Mary and the Laundromutt Read More »

A Barbershop That’s Hair-Raising

by Kate Benz
It’s 10:30 on a Saturday morning, there are already four guys waiting in line for a haircut, and no one knows where Tony is. “He’s not here?” Dante Folino Gallo asks, holding the door open for his father, Salvatore, who uses a walker to shuffle past a towering, 40-year-old Schefflera plant, a millennial buried in …

A Barbershop That’s Hair-Raising Read More »

John Kasich, Government Leader

by Jeff Sewald
I was born and raised in Mckees Rocks, Pennsylvania, not far from Pittsburgh. It was a working-class, blue-collar town, but it was a positive place. I loved it there. As a kid, I played a lot of sports, and learned a great deal from that, about working together and trying hard. I was also blessed …

John Kasich, Government Leader Read More »

Yeh, Taylor, Giovannitti, Chodos, Farmer, McQuaid, Zhao

by PQ Staff
Justin Yeh, M.D. is chief of the Division of Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Medicine and co-director of the Heart Institute at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. He oversees the pediatric cardiac intensive care unit and holds an appointment as associate professor of pediatrics and critical care medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Dr. Yeh, a native of …

Yeh, Taylor, Giovannitti, Chodos, Farmer, McQuaid, Zhao Read More »

Anne and the Album

by Kate Benz, photography by John Altdorfer
She could sit here all day, really. On the upholstered, wooden chair without wheels that she’ll push from keyboard to keyboard while she’s creating songs in the studio she has set up in her living room. It’s a sunken space with hardwood floors and a wood beam ceiling, anchored by a stone fireplace that feels …

Anne and the Album Read More »

Pittsburgh’s Leading Newswoman

by Kate Benz
It is a hot, unbearably humid day in late August. There are two LED lights, a heavy, Sony XD camera mounted on a tripod and one monitor propped up on the Baughman Trail in Ohiopyle, just beyond the old train station. Mosquitos relentless, sun managing to beat down through a thick canopy of trees, crickets …

Pittsburgh’s Leading Newswoman Read More »

Top