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Gone Fishing
At various times in a fisherman’s life, it becomes desirable to try a new spot. Perhaps an old place gets too crowded. Maybe the fish move on. Or maybe one simply wants a change of scenery. Of course, truly knowing a fishing spot means getting there early, before the fish start feeding—before the first light. …
Clemente, Davidson, Stewart, Liozu, Childs, Shiner, Nelson
James Clements is the 23rd president of West Virginia University. He comes to Morgantown from Towson, Md., where he was provost and vice president at Towson University. He was at Towson for 20 years, starting as a visiting assistant professor, earning tenure and becoming provost last year.He earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science from …
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Gumberg, Cappy, Thomas, Lascheid, Cantini, Handler
Stanley Gumberg, 81 Gumberg joined his father’s real estate brokerage and turned it into one of the region’s most successful real estate development companies, building the Waterworks and Cranberry malls and North Hills Village. Until his death, he remained chairman of the J.J. Gumberg Co., which controls some 15 million square feet of retail property. …
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Touring the Finger Lakes of New York
New York’s Finger Lakes region looks at first glance like a slice of Americana: small towns, white clapboard and main streets. Almost 200 years ago, however, upstate New York was a hotbed of social experimentation and religious reform. [ngg src=”galleries” ids=”42″ display=”basic_thumbnail” thumbnail_crop=”0″] Residents grappled with the sudden transformation of their farming communities by the …
Pittsburgh’s College Corridor
What conjures an image of fun and vitality more than the phrase “college town”? And especially clear in an economy like the present one, what industry offers more stability in roiling financial seas than a solid stable of universities? Western Pennsylvania is home to dozens. At their hub is a group of seven, making a …
Semple, Burns, Ellis, Simon, Phillips
Dock Ellis, 63 One of baseball’s most colorful, controversial and bizarre figures, Ellis was a Pittsburgh Pirates star, who once pitched a no-hitter on LSD. In an era of social upheaval, Ellis was branded a militant by the media because of his vocal advocacy for racial equality. His 1970 no-hitter came about after he had …
Stocks & Pedestal, Spring 2009
The Pittsburgh Steelers: Here we go. In a season when both the landscape and the economy have been frozen and dreary, life in Pittsburgh has been full of excitement and expectation, thanks to the Steelers. So up on the pedestal they go for lighting a bonfire of Pittsburgh spirit and taking our minds off of …
The Losses Hit Home
Justifiably, greater Pittsburgh has felt fortunate to escape the brunt of this recession so far. We’ve read the stories in the national media and seen the statistics. We had no housing bubble here, so there’s no bubble to burst. Our financial institutions are comparatively strong. The healthcare, government and education sectors have softened the blows …
Gibbons, Waite, Hansen, Ashburner, Benedict, Humar, Kiehn
David P. Gibbons will become the president of UPMC Northwest, in Seneca, Venango County. He comes to western Pennsylvania from Voorhees, N.J., where he was vice president of operations for the Kennedy Health System’s three hospitals.Before joining Kennedy in 1997, he was director of managed care for the Visiting Nurses Association of Greater Philadelphia; regional …
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Stocks & Pedestal, Winter 2009
Three cheers for PNC Financial Services Group for buying National City Corp. and becoming the nation’s fifth-biggest bank. With this $5.6 billion deal—helped by $7.7 billion in federal funds—Pittsburgh’s banking prominence is rising again. We think concerns about a lack of banking choices in the wake of the deal are overblown. Pittsburgh sports a strong …
Slavery’s Shadow
As the celebratory sun sets on Pittsburgh’s 250th anniversary, an exhibit has opened at the Heinz History Center that shows an area of shadow older than the city itself: slavery. Pittsburgh’s membership in the league of heroic Northern cities that helped with the Underground Railroad remains, but without its pristine, stainless status. Instead, western Pennsylvania …
Everingham, Pollock, Bovbjerg, Jenkins, Hiller, Scarlett-Smith, Thompson
Susan Everingham is director of the RAND Corporation’s Pittsburgh office. She joined RAND in 1988 and, since 2004, has been director of international programs, comprising the centers for Asia Pacific, Middle East and Russian Eurasia policy.From 2000 to 2005, she directed RAND’s program of military personnel research for the Office of the Secretary of Defense. …
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Melodia, Cai, Jaffurs, Sittsamer, Lee, Edmunds, Healy, Packer
Mario Melodia, 78 He returned to Pittsburgh from Broadway, building a career as a dancer, choreographer and teacher. He danced and choreographed for national audiences but left his biggest mark as a teacher of dancers of all stripes, launching the careers of many.He had a dance studio Downtown, taught for more than three decades at …
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Wasting our tax dollars
At one end of a long, rectangular table in an Aliquippa restaurant, a grandmother of 12 sporting a big, blond hairdo was talking about how everyone in Beaver County calls her when their dog is lost. Someone even called at 2:30 a.m. the other day. She wasn’t complaining—she loves dogs and has five of her …
Donovan, Morris, Hattler, Schloss, Pausch, Pidgeon, Diven, Witter, Handy, Harmeier, Jones, White
Bishop Edward V. Donovan, 76 After working as a metallurgist with U.S. Steel for 20 years, Edward Donovan turned to religion, forming a prayer group that ultimately broke away from the Catholic Church and became the Community of the Crucified One.Under Bishop Donovan’s leadership, the Community grew to include its own priests and nuns and …
Reeves, Spence, Johnson, Halevy, Gellman, Griffin, Chamberlain, Fouts
Todd S. Reeves is executive director and superintendent of the Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children. He comes to Pittsburgh from the Washington School for the Deaf in Vancouver, where he was superintendent.A native of Eugene, OR, Reeves began as a speech and language pathologist and teacher, and later served as director of special education …
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Stocks & Pedestal, Fall 2008
On a pedestal: A student star — Seth Weidman It’s better to light one candle than curse the darkness. That old expression found a disciple during the last school year in Seth Weidman, whose extra efforts have made him the youngest person to be placed on our pedestal. When he started his senior year at …
Purkey, Martin, Forrester, Beckwith, Lacey, Jones, Horan
Lee H. Lacey, 89: For nearly 30 years, Lacey was the president and CEO of Harmarville Rehabilitation Center. During his tenure, the facility, now part of HealthSouth, nearly tripled in capacity and changed from a home for poor mothers into a state-of-the-art center for people recovering from debilitating sicknesses and injuries. Robert T. Purkey, 78 …
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Stocks & Pedestal, Summer 2008
Great cities take great care when it comes to aesthetics, and Pittsburgh is fortunate to be among the nation’s great architectural cities. It doesn’t continue by magic, though. It takes planning and vigilance. Going into the stocks this issue is the monstrous parking garage being planned by casino developers on the North Shore. The 10-story …
One Myth Worth Dispelling
Sonoma, Calif. — On an unseasonably warm and beautiful April evening in the heart of the California wine country, an enthusiastic crowd with many Pittsburghers gathered to see the premiere screening of “My Tale of Two Cities,” a documentary about Pittsburgh and the life of the film’s creator, star and narrator, Carl Kurlander. Kurlander is …
Taylor, Singleton, McGarry, Gideon, Rademacher, Littrell, Cooper, Wood
Samuel M. Taylor is the Director of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, where he worked early in his career. A marine biologist and science educator by training, Taylor has been a museum consultant for the past eight years in New Jersey.Previously, he was chairman and curator of the education department at the California Academy …
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Now Batting: Roberto Clemente
Among the baseball bats, telegrams and uniforms displayed in Lawrenceville’s Engine House No. 25 is a 1960 photo some say predicted Roberto Clemente’s legacy. The former Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder is leaping up to catch a ball, the cumulus clouds behind him forming what looks like angel’s wings. [ngg src=”galleries” ids=”28″ display=”basic_thumbnail” thumbnail_crop=”0″] Twelve years after …