People

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

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 …

Compassion, Mindfulness and Resilience 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. …

The 96th Birthday

The 96th Birthday Read More »

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 …

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 »

Arrivals

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

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

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 …

Seamstress to the Stars

Seamstress to the Stars Read More »

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 …

Consensus Builder 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 …

The Man Who Was Too Nice to be a Car Salesman

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

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 …

Obituaries

Remembering Prominent Pittsburghers Who Passed Away in 2018

Remembering Prominent Pittsburghers Who Passed Away in 2018 Read More »

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, …

Abby’s World of Cut and Curl

Abby’s World of Cut and Curl Read More »

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 …

Obituaries

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

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

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 …

Mary and the Laundromutt

Mary and the Laundromutt Read More »

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 …

A Barbershop That’s Hair-Raising

A Barbershop That’s Hair-Raising Read More »

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 …

John Kasich, Government Leader 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 …

Arrivals

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

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

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 …

by Kate Benz, photography by John Altdorfer

Anne and the Album

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

Pittsburgh’s Leading Newswoman Read More »

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 …

by Kate Benz, photography by John Altdorfer

Relentless Russ and the Virtue of a Work Ethic

Russ has been at the gym for like, 31 years. “Since 1987,” he says. White New Balance sneakers. Red track suit jacket with the words PERSONAL TRAINER written across the back. Handing people the kettle bells and the medicine balls and the 10-pound weights and the resistance bands and asking for one, come on, just …

Relentless Russ and the Virtue of a Work Ethic Read More »

Ageless Wisdom: Abraham Twerski, 87 Read More »

Ageless Wisdom: Abraham Twerski, 87

by Douglas Heuck

Try and find happiness in everything. And that’s not easy. There are a lot of things that cause you misery. Right now I’m disabled in a wheelchair. I’m dependent on other people for so many things. I don’t like being dependent on people. But I still try and find some happiness in that. I once …

Arrivals

Cudd, Farmer, Schuler, Buford, Kraybill, Martin, Gunther

Cudd, Farmer, Schuler, Buford, Kraybill, Martin, Gunther Read More »

Ann E. Cudd is provost and senior vice chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh, supervising the academic and research operations of more than 700 full-time faculty and 7,000 students. A native of Gambier, Ohio, she comes to Pitt from Boston University where she served as an administrator and professor of philosophy for the past three …