Articles Archive - Page 134 of 157 - Pittsburgh Quarterly

Say “grove city,” and most people think outlet shopping or the college. Few are aware that it is also the location of an outstanding jewelry store. Joden World Resources features a staggering array of antique, estate, and modern jewelry, tucked into an unassuming shop on South Broad Street. In the late 1960s, Joe Murawski was …

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Education

Major Dilemma

by Alecia Dean

A few months ago, as graduates donned caps and gowns and set their sights on their futures, parents snapped pictures of the end that marked the beginning The day after, however, graduates facing an uncertain future wondered, “Will I get a job?” The good news for recent college graduates is that 19 percent more …

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Sports

On the Green

by Marino Parascenzo

This is the biography of a golf tournament. Bob Murphy, a Pittsburgh real estate entrepreneur, had every reason to believe his newest venture in the late 1980s would succeed. He had jumped into the golf boom, buying Fallen Timber, a hardscrabble course near Midway in Washington County, and turning it into Quicksilver Golf Club. He …

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Birds

Bold & Beautiful

by David Liebmann

I have always had a thing for road kill; not for death as spectacle, but for the opportunity to see something wild up close. Though there are limits to what I’ll inspect, I’m usually drawn to at least making an identification of the species, particularly if it happens to be avian. Thus, one afternoon, I …

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Business

A Natural-Gas Ponzi Scheme?

by Seamus McGraw

It was, on the surface, a devastating indictment: a report in The New York Times, the nation’s leading newspaper, alleging that the natural gas industry—an eclectic and fiercely competitive collection of players that included in its ranks everyone from cowboy drillers to staid overseas nationals like StatOil Hydro—may have joined together in a secret cabal …

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Region

A Tale of Two Pittsburghs

by Douglas Heuck

Those of us who live in Greater Pittsburgh understandably feel we know a great deal about this region. We certainly know about our neighborhoods, our friends, our families and our jobs. We know about our hobbies, our favorite sports teams and the Pittsburgh weather. In short, we know about our lives here. What we know …

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Business

Middle East Connection

by Sean D. Hamill

For 18 years, the Columbia, Md.-based engineering and construction firm Allen & Shariff grew quickly in the mid-Atlantic area, opening its Pittsburgh office in 2000, and looking to expand internationally. It had enough success with projects in the United Arab Emirates that it opened an international office in 2008. But it couldn’t break into another …

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Opinion

Into the Wild

by Douglas Heuck

What could be nicer than a family trip with all three kids just before they head off to college and my wife and I become empty nesters? This, at least, was my thinking when I signed up for a three-day, two-night pack trip into Yellowstone Park this summer. Ride in on horseback, do some fishing, …

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Opinion

Stocks & Pedestal, Fall 2011

by PQ Staff

When your team’s winning, there’s nothing like baseball. Nothing like listening to the radio in the late innings of a close game. The pitcher waves off signals and finally goes into his motion. You hear the crack of the bat, followed by the announcer—“If it’s fair, it’s outta here—foul ball!” The din of the crowd …

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Profiles

In the American Grain

by William S. Dietrich II

Who are the preeminent individuals in American business history? A strong case might be made for a quintet: Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, Bill Gates, John D. Rockefeller and Sam Walton. Who is primus inter pares? It’s Henry Ford in a walk-away. Here’s why: Ford was an industrialist, inventor, aircraft pioneer, museum curator, horticulturist, labor progressive, …

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Obituaries

Mascara, Gilliam, Feeney, Epperson, Gruber, Armstrong

by PQ Staff

Frank Mascara, 81 The son of Italian immigrants, Mascara was orphaned at the age of 16. He overcame a hardscrabble childhood to become Washington County controller, 14-year Chairman of the Washington County Commission, and four-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives. A native of Belle Vernon, the moderate Democrat lived most of his life …

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Food & Wine

Muscat Love

by Alex Sebastian

Mankind has been making wine for millennia, so it’s rare to find a wine that’s truly new. But sometimes we see a grape that’s ripe for a comeback. Consider the Muscat family of grapes: Muscat Blanc and its many mutations, including Muscat Ottonel and Black Muscat. Muscat Blanc is one of the oldest grape varieties …

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Nature

White Rocks

by Thomas Saunders

One of the region’s most beautiful and diverse outdoor destinations is the Laurel Highlands. When people think of visiting the Laurel Highlands, they often focus on some of the best-known spots, such as Ohiopyle State Park, Fallingwater and Bear Run Nature Reserve, or the Ligonier Valley. But farther south are more remote parts of the …

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Arts

A New Pittsburgh Biennial

by Graham Shearing

The pittsburgh biennial, which you will have encountered before in smaller incarnations going back to 1994, is back with a vengeance. It now lasts six months, putting it on a par with The Carnegie International; it engages more artists (some of whom might be more valuably presented in that International); and it has no fewer …

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Arrivals

Waldrup, Opfer, Glassman, Thomas, Walsh, Mosse, Britten, Young

by PQ Staff

Jeremy Waldrup is president and CEO of Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership. Before joining PDP, Waldrup worked with New York City’s Department of Small Business Services.Waldrup holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and a master’s from the University of Colorado’s School of Public Affairs. Waldrup moved to Pittsburgh from …

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Food & Wine

Jim’s Famous Sauce

by Joseph Sabino Mistick

Alex Damianos awakened from a troubled sleep at 3 a.m. on a hot July night in 1959 to find his smiling father standing at the foot of his bed, staring down at him. “Alex, I told you to learn how to make the sauce,” Jim said playfully to his oldest son. “Now, think about the …

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Profiles

John Wetenhall, Ph.D., MBA

by Jeff Sewald

Very early one Sunday morning when I was in graduate school, I answered a phone call from a distinguished Stanford professor who summoned me in his gruff voice: “Get down to my office.” Albert Elsen, the great scholar on the sculpture of Auguste Rodin, had just been contacted by Raymond Nasher, a Dallas philanthropist and …

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Books

Big Business Now and Then

by Sandra Levis

Be careful what you wish for” is the adage that best applies to the McGraw family and their neighbors on the failed and failing dairy farms northwest of Scranton, Pa. After generations of scraping by, their dreams are finally poised to come true, now that corporate prospectors have come calling, offering buckets of cash in …

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Arrivals

Arrivals – Summer 2011

by PQ Staff

Winthrop Watson is president and chief executive officer of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh. A native of Winston-Salem, N.C., he comes to Pittsburgh from Hong Kong, where he was a managing director with J.P. Morgan.A graduate of the University of Virginia and Stanford University’s M.B.A. program, Watson and his wife, Signe Warner Watson, …

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Business

A Toxic Topic

by Seamus McGraw

There is no doubt about it. The Marcellus Shale is radioactive, in every sense of the word. In the literal sense of the word, geologists and drillers have long known that each shale deposit has its own radioactive signature. In fact, they have often measured that radiation—from uranium, thorium, radium 226 and radium 228—and used …

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Profiles

The Advisor: Jack Barbour

by Reid R. Frazier

He has a super bowl ring, a friend in the Governor’s mansion, and he’s in charge of one of the country’s biggest law firms. To boot, he’s got a dinosaur exhibit to his credit. But for all his achievements, you won’t find Jack Barbour too close to the limelight. Which is just how he likes …

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Opinion

Stocks & Pedestal, Summer 2011

by PQ Staff

Last summer, Susan Crookston looked at the 8-acre Aspinwall Marina site on the Allegheny River, which was about to become a 650-car parking lot. When she saw it, the Aspinwall mother of three said, “If this plan falls through for some reason, we should try to buy this ourselves.” Laughter met her idea, but when …

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