Articles Archive - Page 97 of 155 - Pittsburgh Quarterly

You’re never going to see him cross his arms. Why risk wrinkling his suit? You’ll also never see him walking around with scuffs on his shoes, covered in dirt from the last steps he took. No chance he’s going to ruin his soles. Has about a gazillion of them. He likes the suedes. Likes his …

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Events

St. Barnabas Charities Honors Former New York City Mayor

by PQ Staff

A message infused with leadership, compassion, patriotism and courage punctuated the 45-minutes that former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani shared with more than 400 guests of St. Barnabas Charities during the 2017 Founder’s Day Celebration. “I’m excited to see him in person,” said Lindsey Senft. “He’s this larger than life person I’ve always seen …

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Opinion

Marital Secrets

by Elizabeth Wiethorn

If there is one thing I have learned after being married for 17 years, it is that every marriage has secrets. Anybody who tells you different has never been married. Most secrets can be classified into three categories: Benign: “I don’t see what the big idea is, a lot of middle-aged men collect ‘Hello Kitty’ …

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Creative Capital

Capital Preservation Paul, Part IV

by Greg Curtis

Last week we observed how our investment competitors fared as they navigated a boring, so-so market environment. But this week things get more interesting. As we will recall, Years 2 and 3 of our contest were Bull Market years. The equity markets were so strong that even highly diversified portfolios rose 15% in Year 2 …

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Events

A Night of Reflection

by PQ Staff

More than 200 guests gathered last month at the Renaissance Pittsburgh Hotel for the 15th Annual Saint Alexis Catholic School Gala, benefiting the privately funded Catholic elementary school in Wexford. This year’s theme, “A Night of Reflection,” resonated with guests as they reminisced about the school’s 55-year history and looked to the future.

Money

Value Investing: Putting Time on Your Side

by Kim Forrest

“All things excellent are as difficult as they are rare.” Throughout my 17 years watching markets and investing on behalf of high-net-worth individuals, families and organizations in the Pittsburgh area, I’ve never found this quote from legendary investor Benjamin Graham to be more appropriate. Investing is more than the cat and mouse game portrayed by …

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Opinion

Investigating a Suicide. Me?

by Tim Menees

As the sergeant drank cheap whiskey one night at the NCO Club on Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey, his wife overdosed on pills. Because suicide is a homicide, the Office of Special Investigations on base, meaning my two colleagues and me, got the case. The base security police had roped off their trailer, and …

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PQ Poem

Poetry

by Ed Ochester

I too dislike it the mystified truisms the dusty puzzle-prunes the theatrical exaggerations: “the brutal crescendo of woodworms”– yet I think of O’Hara’s delight in the endless pleasures of quotidian life and Duhamel throwing a dozen balls in the air and juggling them all Frank said only a few poems are as good as the …

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Arts

Quantum Strikes Again with “Collaborators”

by Stuart Sheppard

Just as Colette could say, “There are no ordinary cats,” one could say that there are no ordinary productions from Quantum Theatre. “Collaborators,” the 2011 play by John Hodge (who also wrote the adaptation of the film, “Trainspotting”) is violently alive in a way so few new plays are these days, merging comedy and pathos …

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Leadership

Elsie Hillman, Political and Civic Leader

by Jeff Sewald

My husband, Henry Lea Hillman, is seven years older than me. He is the son, of course, of Pittsburgh steel mogul John H. Hillman, Jr., an industrialist who built Pittsburgh Coke & Chemical. Anyway, Henry was a friend of my older sister, and I knew his younger sister, so we all became friends. When I …

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Creative Capital

Capital Preservation Paul, Part III

by Greg Curtis

Last week we asked Mr. Market to establish the playing field for our investment contest. This week we’ll check in to see how our contestants are faring. Year 1 of the contest, we will recall, was a so-so, boring year in the markets. Mr. Market’s portfolio—that is, a portfolio with exactly the same asset allocation …

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Arts

Warhol Brings Báez’s Powerful “Bloodlines” to Pittsburgh

by Vicky A Clark

The Andy Warhol Museum’s first two exhibitions of the year are a great pairing. Jessica Beck’s excellent My Perfect Body brought together work from Warhol’s entire career that focused on body issues, from the nose picking and acne of his youth to the scars from being shot in 1968 to images of bodybuilders and Christ. …

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Health

A Doctor’s Face on a Billboard

by David Macpherson

After retiring from medicine, I drove across most of the southern and western United States to explore national parks and visit relatives. Every day, I would drive by billboards showing faces of physicians. I’m sure most of you have seen this type of marketing in the Pittsburgh region if not on billboards, then certainly in …

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Creative Capital

Capital Preservation Paul, Part II

by Greg Curtis

On the last day of March, we launched our own, far more interesting version of March Madness, namely, an investment contest. Our contest features the Investing Final Four, that is, the four main kinds of investors I’ve encountered in a long and checkered career in the financial advisory business. But instead of competing for something …

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Events

Renowned Poet and Artist Comes to the Maridon

by PQ Staff

On Saturday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. the Maridon Museum will hold a gala opening of its exhibit and art sale “A Cosmic Contemporary Collaboration.” The exhibit, which runs April 8 through June 3, will feature paintings and a performance by internationally recognized poet Huang Xiang, one of China’s greatest 20th century, post-cultural revolution …

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Opinion

The Newspapers & Rico the Baker

by Tim Menees

Pittsburgh’s old morning newspaper was the small dog in town—feistier, funkier, more colorful, more daring and, compared to the larger afternoon paper, far more fun. Its “personnel department” was Agnes who worked in an alcove full of office machines from the Roosevelt years. The Teddy Roosevelt years. Ray took over. He was bright, funny, had …

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Special Reports

Pittsburgh Today and Tomorrow 2017

by Pittsburgh Today Staff

The 2017 Pittsburgh Today and Tomorrow report, produced by Pittsburgh Today, analyzes recent data to assess the Pittsburgh region’s standing compared with 15 other regions in key economic and quality of life measures. Also included are numerous in-depth reports focusing on the most important issues facing Greater Pittsburgh. To view a PDF version of Pittsburgh …

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Arts

PICT Classic Theatre Triumphs with Fresh, Exhilarating Treatment of Oedipus Rex

by Stuart Sheppard

Although thirteen ancient Greek poets wrote Oedipus tragedies, only Sophocles’ play, “Oedipus Rex,” has survived. The Roman philosopher Seneca wrote a version, as did Julius Caesar. So did the 17th century poet John Dryden, as well as the 18th century philosopher Voltaire. It has been a foundational story of Western consciousness since Homer referenced it …

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Creative Capital

Capital Preservation Paul

by Greg Curtis

I’ve been in the business of advising wealthy families for 40 years. (Actually, it’s been longer than that, but I’ve reached the age where everything gets rounded down.) Over all those years, almost every family I’ve worked with has followed an investment strategy focused on the preservation of their capital, and it’s not hard to …

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Travel

Antarctica, Wonder that Inspires

by James Hilliard

There are times in your life that mark changes in your composition. Our trip to Antarctica was one of those times. It’s a continent without native people, but where wildlife thrives in an unpredictable environment. It’s a world without infrastructure. The scale is otherworldly and the landscape staggeringly, breathlessly beautiful. It is a landscape difficult …

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Innovation

Silicon Valley—and the Rest of Us

by Paul Scripko

Last week I was in northern California’s Bay Area for a few days and, as I prefer to do when traveling even to familiar places, I make sure to read and watch the local media rather than “the usual” array of nationally available sources. I caught a TV report on a meeting of Silicon Valley …

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Creative Capital

Loose Change, Part X

by Greg Curtis

“Without courage all other virtues are useless” – Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire We are talking about climate change, this being the tenth and (finally!) last post in my long series on “changes” that might be considered by the new Trump Administration. In my last post, I alluded to scientific misgivings about the seminal “Seven Nations” …

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