Turner, Loevner, Fisher, Benedum, Wishart, Savran, Harrell

Tracey Turner, 60 
Turner was artistic director of I Dream A World, taught at Point Park University and was the director of Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company’s Black and White Festival and various productions at the August Wilson Center for African American Culture. Turner was especially fond of Shakespeare, receiving praise for her portrayal of the traditionally male Prospero in “The Tempest.” In 2004, Ms. Turner won best director from The African American Council of the Arts for her production of “Harriet Tubman Loved Somebody.” She was a board member of Pittsburgh Shakespeare in the Park, and appeared in movies including “Wonder Boys” as well as the WQED series “She’s Your Mother,” the first gay, family-oriented sitcom.

Mark Loevner, 90 
Loevner was a gregarious man who collected antiques and Western Pennsylvania art with a connoisseur’s eye. He called Squirrel Hill home for 90 years and graduated first in his class from Penn State, where he was president “Superior” of his fraternity, Phi Epsilon Pi. He was an Alumni Fellow in 1998 and established the Penn State Catherine and Mark Loevner Scholarship Fund. After serving as a second lieutenant in the Air Force, he entered the family business, Trau and Loevner, established by his grandfather in 1897. Loevner was named “Entrepreneur of the Year” by Ernst & Young in 1992 and “Business Person of the Year” for Pennsylvania and the Mid-Atlantic region by the Small Business Association, an award given by President Clinton. 
Edith “Toto” Fisher, 93 
Few in Pittsburgh did more for the arts than Fisher, the grand dame of culture who was directly responsible for many of the institutions that now exist. Over the course of 50 years, she helped to found the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, The Andy Warhol Museum and WQED-FM, and she was an avid supporter in terms of both money and time of the Carnegie Museums, Phipps Conservatory, Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, Pittsburgh Public Theater, the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Garden Club of Allegheny County and many more. A warm, vibrant woman who volunteered countless hours and mentored many, she was especially proud of her role in publishing the “Carnegie Treasures Cookbook.”
Paul Benedum Jr., 92  
Known as Benny, he was the great nephew of oil and gas titan Michael Benedum and was the only lifetime trustee of the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, where he served as board chair for 22 years. A geologist with a degree from Brown, he was also a businessman, angler, jazz enthusiast, prankster renowned for his sense of humor and philanthropist who started the Paul Benedum Jr. Foundation.  He grew up exploring oil fields with his uncle and found his other great passion researching and trading in the stock market, which he believed “waits for no man.”  A life trustee of Carnegie Museums, he funded the Benedum Hall of Geology. 
Alfred “Burr” Wishart, 91 
As CEO of the Pittsburgh Foundation for 31 years, Wishart advocated for those in need and for racial equality, directly impacting the lives of thousands. A Presbyterian minister who left his church in New Jersey after the deadly race riots in 1967, Wishart found his vocation through the foundation. He insisted on diversity, and when he retired, his staff of 40 included 37 women and 11 African-Americans. He grew the foundation from $17 million to $548 million, mounting a campaign to entice ordinary people to donate. He also led the Howard Heinz Endowments from 1970-1992 and the Vira I. Heinz Endowment from 1982-1985, overseeing the building of Heinz Hall and Benedum Center and purchasing the properties that would become the Cultural District.
Stan Savran, 76 
A native of Cleveland who grew up with the surname Savransky, he moved to Pittsburgh in 1976 and ultimately became Stan Savran, one of the most recognizable people in his adopted city. With a keen interest in professional sports and a tenacious work ethic, he built a long and fabled career as one of Pittsburgh’s top sports journalists. He loved Pittsburgh sports, and no one knew more about it than the 17-year co-host of “Sportsbeat,” the longest running sports show ever on Pittsburgh television. In a place where pro sports trumps everything, Savran was immensely popular, and because of his honesty and fairness, that popularity extended to those he criticized.
Ed Harrell, 83 
The former president of Tribune-Review Publishing and a member of numerous boards and organizations, Harrell was known for his distinctive laugh as well as for spear-heading the Greensburg Tribune’s expansion into the Pittsburgh market in 1992 at the request of Richard Scaife. He was the assistant GM of the Pittsburgh Press and ran a consulting firm before joining the Trib in 1989. After retiring as president in 2005, Harrell created the Pittsburgh Wine Festival in partnership with the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board and followed with a whiskey festival.