Pittsburgh Lives

Overview

Author Biography

See Author

Press Releases

Until you read the obituary section of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and notice the friendly face you encountered on the inclines at Mount Washington, you may never have realized that he was a famous philanthropist or that your neighbor of 30 years was an influential businessman who built-up major industrial firms.

It’s not just legendaries such as Andy Warhol, Andrew Carnegie or Roberto Clemente who have defined Pittsburgh. It is also the unknown, personal contributions of individuals who have inspired, stunned and amused us while building up Pittsburgh along the banks of the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio Rivers.

Pittsburgh Lives: Lasting Legacies of Men and Women That Made Pittsburgh Great by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is a tour through history in a way that has never before been printed. Anyone can read the historic actions and moments in the formation of Pittsburgh, but Pittsburgh Lives takes readers on a unique journey through the 20^th century in the Steel City by revealing the characters that left indelible marks on the western Pennsylvania city’s history.

Some were famous and recognized nationwide, like Jonas Salk and H.J. Heinz. Others were not as well-known, but lived fascinating lives that helped shape Pittsburgh while staying relatively under the radar at the same time, such as:

» Herbert Simon, who was a Pittsburgh researcher awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics in 1978.

» Frieda Shapira, who devoted her life to social reform and served on the boards of many cultural and rights organizations.

» William A. “Gus” Greenlee, whose gambling and bootlegging financed his business operations, which included owning the successful Pittsburgh Crawfords Negro League baseball team and running the renowned Crawford Grill jazz club.

Pittsburgh Lives reveals that a city cannot be simply defined by what it has built, written, planned or accomplished. The people behind such great achievements reveal a city’s true character as much as anything else.

In Pittsburgh Lives readers explore the struggles of labor workers, the innovation of authors and artists, the dedication of activists and city officials and the actions of fellow Pittsburgh residents whose feats were never recorded by history books … until now.