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Remembering Prominent Pittsburghers Who Passed Away in 2019

by PQ Staff

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. 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. …

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Fisher, Roseman, Ziegler, Stein, Roderick, Hillenbrand, Pessolano, Booth

by PQ Staff
Dr. Bernard Fisher, 101: Dr. Fisher was a giant in the field of breast cancer, leading large-scale randomized clinical trials that revolutionized understanding and treatment of the illness. His earlier surgical work included performing the first kidney transplant in Pittsburgh and doing pivotal work that cleared the way for future liver transplantation. Believing that data …

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Zuberbuhler, Schwalb, McCormick, Brown, Wolosik, Burnett, Malezi

by PQ Staff
James Robert Zuberbuhler, MD, 89: Pediatric cardiology hadn’t evolved into a medical field in 1967, when he was appointed director of the new department at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, a position he held for nearly three decades. Dr. Zuberbuhler was a master diagnostician when doctors had little more than a patient’s medical history and …

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Fine, Flaherty, Yee, McHugh, Fisher, Busis

by PQ Staff
Milton Fine, 92: The son of Jewish immigrants, Fine made his mark as a businessman, philanthropist and Pittsburgh patron of the arts. He was raised in East Pittsburgh, where his father raised a family as a tailor. At 18, he was an Army sergeant, leading men into combat during World War II. After practicing law …

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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 …

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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, …

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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 »

Montgomery, Macino, Vento, Capretto, Marcu, Widdoes, Luderowski

by PQ Staff
Ruth Mitchell Montgomery, 101: Five years after she and her husband moved to Pittsburgh for a job with the University of Pittsburgh in 1956, Montgomery started the effort to create the Pittsburgh Chamber Music Society (now Chamber Music Pittsburgh), attracting the philanthropic support to make the dream a reality. For many years she ran the …

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Davis, Klausing, Donatelli, Lynch, Heinz, Sachs, McEachran, Scully, Sammartino

by PQ Staff
Nathan Davis, 81: Davis was director of jazz studies at the University of Pittsburgh and a pioneer in bringing jazz education into the mainstream. A tenor and soprano saxophone player, his 44-year tenure at Pitt included creating the Pittsburgh Jazz Seminar, the Sonny Rollins International Jazz Archive, the International Academy of Jazz Hall of Fame …

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Bognar, Franklin, Freeman, Ross, Goldstein, McElhattan, Malone

by PQ Staff
Nadine Bognar, 87: The co-owner of Bognar and Company, a supplier of coke and coal for the steel industry, she became chairman and CEO in 1992 after her husband’s death. While her business acumen contributed to the company’s continued success, it was her philanthropic efforts and support of a wide range of arts organizations that …

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Remembering Prominent Pittsburghers Who Passed Away in 2017

by PQ Staff
From Henry Hillman to Dr. Thomas Starzl, 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. Henry Hillman, 98 Henry Hillman had a keen interest in the future and an unusual ability to see into …

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Burger, Beaumont, Fincke, Lowry, Frankel, Papadakos, Dozzi, Troan

by PQ Staff
Herb Burger, 87: A leading Pittsburgh advertising executive, Burger led the PR effort that created the 1980s slogan, “Pittsburgh: The city with a smile on its face” while president of Creamer Inc. After the firm was sold, Burger started the St. George Group. He was the first chairman of the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, and was …

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Cahouet, Romero, Needleman, Maher, Donahue, Katz, Robinson

by PQ Staff
Frank Cahouet, 85: Cahouet rescued Mellon Bank from the brink of failure in the 1980s and restored the fabled Pittsburgh institution to strength. The first outsider to lead the bank when he arrived in 1987, he inherited bad loans and excessive expenses that led to a loss of nearly $1 billion that year. Cahouet aggressively …

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Steger, Sunseri, Sculley, Livingston, Wilkinson, Croce, Cenk

by PQ Staff
Wilbur Steger, 87: Will Steger was the creator and driving force behind Consad Research, a consulting firm that tackled practical and prospective problems from the streets of Pittsburgh to the White House. After working as an analyst at Rand, Steger left and cofounded Consad, which he ran for more than 50 years. The brilliant and …

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Remembering Three Great Pittsburgh Men

by PQ Staff
Henry Hillman, 98: Henry Hillman had a keen interest in the future and an unusual ability to see into it. In the 1970s, his was the voice that warned Pittsburgh leaders of industrial changes that would cripple the city if it didn’t diversify its industrial base. He removed money from the smokestack industries he inherited …

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Pauli, Ruch, Delligatti, Goldsmith, Abraham, Armitage, Desmett, Towle

by PQ Staff
Chuck Pauli, 73: Pauli was the former CEO and president of Pittsburgh specialty coatings company Kop-Coat. He was vice president and general manager of the Koppers Coating Division when British company Beazer PLC took over Koppers in the late 1980s. Pauli led a management buyout of the Coatings Division, which created Kop-Coat, and he later …

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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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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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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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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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Bron, Gaffney, Conniff, Waldman, Ebbert, Ellis, Robertshaw, Miller, Walsh, Blum

by PQ Staff
Klaus Bron, 86 Dr. Bron was a pioneering visionary in interventional radiology and angiography. After studying the nascent field of minimally invasive angiography in Sweden, he came to Pittsburgh in 1964 and .became chief of vascular and interventional radiology as well as chief of radiology at Presbyterian University Hospital. His work created the conditions that …

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Hillman, Lenchner, Spruill, Peters, Faison, Danforth, Hoffstat

by PQ Staff
Elsie Hillman, 89 The irreplaceable and irrepressible first lady of Pittsburgh, “Elsie” combined vision, commitment, enthusiasm and means with a common touch. Those qualities and a sense of humor and fun helped her spearhead and support political, civic, cultural and philanthropic initiatives for more than 60 years. She headed both the Allegheny County and Pennsylvania …

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