Editor’s note: The Pittsburgh Quarterly team has interviewed many of the most interesting and noteworthy people in our “city-state of Pittsburgh” as my old editor and friend John Craig used to call this area. The number of interviews that have appeared in this magazine reaches well into the hundreds (writer Jeff Sewald alone has interviewed nearly 80). As a special 20th anniversary issue treat and a tribute to the greatness of the light and lives that course through Pittsburgh, we’ve put together a compendium of thoughts from a fraction of these interviews. We’re sorry we can’t include all — space simply won’t allow it. But I hope you enjoy reading the wit and wisdom of these Pittsburghers, many no longer with us, as much as I enjoyed editing them.
– Douglas Heuck
https://pittsburghquarterly.com/articles/20-years-of-interviews-pt-ii/
Sunil Wadhwani
Entrepreneur and AI Philanthropist
“In my family there was always a sense of ‘Aim high, work hard and believe in yourself.’ We’ve faced numerous serious setbacks and yet overcame them to get ahead in life…
“When you grow up in a country like India, you learn how the circumstances of your birth dictate so much of your life story. In my case, I was born into a middle-class family that believed in education, so my parents sent my brothers and me to good schools. But just a mile away, there were thousands of families living in slums. And for the children who grew up there, life was totally different. Their families weren’t able to educate them. They had few, if any, opportunities. As I got older, I learned to appreciate how fortunate I was, and to understand how much of what we call success is due to the contributions and sacrifices of others, as well as other circumstances over which we have no control.”
Jared L. Cohon
University Leader
“For the past 16 years at Carnegie Mellon, I have called myself the ‘Accidental President,’ or the ‘Forrest Gump’ of university administrators, and there’s a lot of truth to that. At almost every step along the way, when opportunities arose, I simply didn’t say, ‘No.’ I never sought to position myself for any job. After all, life is really about the journey, which often makes a mess of one’s plans. So when students ask me, ‘What must I do to become this or that?’ I set out to destroy whatever ideas they have about life plans, because I don’t believe in them. I tell them to enjoy and focus on whatever it is they’re doing at the moment, and the next step will become apparent.”
William E. Strickland Jr.
Social Entrepreneur
“I guess I’ve always wanted to make something of myself, and that’s mostly because of my mom. It wasn’t so much what she told me but what she allowed me to do, because once I got into clay, I took over the basement of our house, turning it into a studio. Then I commandeered the laundry area and fashioned a dark room for my photography. My mom supported everything I did, even when I went to the South on my own to work for civil rights. She let me explore life, saying, ‘I’m with you, Bill, and I’m proud of you.’ When I was invited to the White House for the first time by President George H. W. Bush, I saved the invitation and the menu from the luncheon, brought them home and gave them to my mother. She teared up, saying, ‘I never thought that one of my children would break bread with the president of the United States.’ I told her, ‘The reason I was able to do that is because of you, and all the time, energy and belief you had in raising me the right way. Thank you, Mom, and I love you.’”
Ted Pappas
Impresario
“My parents, God bless them, were nurturing people, but were more interested in scholastic achievement than in personal expression. Part of that was their immigrant experience. They wanted to make sure that we were safe and secure before we were ‘fabulous.’ And, as you might guess, they did not like my choice of career. The theater was too insecure and, to them, undignified. It was a waste of what they considered my potential. In their eyes, it could only lead to unhappiness. They were not concerned so much about success. They were more concerned about honoring one’s gifts. They kept hoping, even after I had some measure of success, that I would finally come to my senses. For me, a life in the theater became a very private and personal journey. It was something I did on my own and, I think, for that reason, if for no other, it has remained precious to me. It’s something that I chose to do despite resistance. When you are optimistic, as I was, you open your life up and many great things can happen.”
Mark Nordenberg
University President, Community Leader
“Funny enough, to some extent, my career at Pitt has been built on plugging holes. Of the six new faculty members who came to the law school in 1977 — of which I was one — four had tenure-stream appointments and two of us were visitors. So essentially, I was given a tryout. Then I became dean of the law school in 1985, but only in the aftermath of the resignation of a new dean who decided that administrative responsibilities were not for him. When he resigned, they had to look for somebody to fill in on a temporary basis, and they decided that I was that person. I served as interim dean for about 15 months and at the end of the search they thought, I guess, ‘Mark hasn’t done a bad job. Maybe we should just stick with him.’ And the surprises kept coming.”
Dr. Barry Kerzin
Physician to the Dalai Lama
“There’s a strong connection between your mind and body. Traditionally medicine hasn’t recognized that, but that’s changing. So many of our major illnesses have stress as a factor — maybe not as causation, but sometimes as causation. Probably more as an important factor in driving chronic illness — blood pressure, asthma, diabetes, emphysema. And stress has so much to do with the mind. It’s my belief that the mind is stronger than words and words are stronger than physical actions.
“Everything kind of comes from the mind. And that means our motivation. Usually we’re not in touch with our motivation. And often our motivation is mixed. But the more we can turn inward — this mindfulness stuff — and know what we’re thinking in the present moment, the more we can begin to be in touch with our motivation. And of course motivation is going to change. But when we get in touch with it, and find that it’s more selfish, those people who are interested in finding greater peace and happiness can say, ‘OK, if I really want to help others without these strings attached, then I have to move myself in this direction.’ But first I have to recognize my motivation.”
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