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D
Dorothy
Daniel: Head of WQED who set out a tiger puppet as a
party favor at a party the night before the first airing of "Children's
Corner" on April 1, 1954. Fred Rogers picked up the puppet and instantly
established the Daniel persona/character, the first of his arsenal
of beloved children's TV puppets.
Marcia
Davenport: When her executive husband accepted a transfer
to Pittsburgh in the 1930s, Marcia Davenport moved here and quickly
became infatuated by the topography, the mighty steel industry and
the history she discovered. During her two-year stay, she explored
the city, and once found herself on the North Side, the erstwhile
Allegheny City. Years later, she set her best-selling novel there.
"Valley of Decision"
was made into a movie of the same name in 1945, starring Greer Garson
and Gregory Peck, Lionel Barrymore and Donald Crisp, opening in
1945.
Annie
Jacobs Davis: The leader in founding Montefiore Hospital,
which enabled Jewish doctors to practice without the usual racial
barriers, and provided kosher meals, etc., to Jewish patients.
 Mary
Cardwell Dawson: Founded the Cardwell School of
Music in Pittsburgh in the late 1920s and organized the Cardwell
Dawson Choir, a singing group invited to perform at Chicago and
New York World's Fairs and participant in benefits for groups such
as the Colored Citizens' Hospital Committee; possibly her most significant
achievements, however, were her position as president of the National
Association of Negro Musicians and her subsequent founding of the
National Negro Opera Co. in Pittsburgh in 1941, with which she opened
doors and provided an artistic outlet for classical musicians who,
until the company's opening, did not have such opportunities. The
company (filled by Mary with both local and national talents of
all ethnicities) toured the U.S., performing both standard and seldom-performed
operas, often playing in Washington, D.C., Chicago, and New York;
the group's first performance, in 1941, was at Syria Mosque, where
they would play often throughout the 21 years of the company's existence.
Madame Dawson was honored with a plaque from the Pennsylvania Historical
and Museum Commission remembering the Opera Company at 7101 Apple
Ave., Homewood, where it resided from its opening in 1941 until
its closing in 1962.
Mary
Dawson:
Longtime curator of vertebrate paleontology and chairman
of division of earth sciences at the Carnegie Museum of Natural
History has cool research into early mammals.
Titus
de Bobula: His onion domes (e.g. St. Peter and St. Paul
Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Carnegie) add cultural diversity to the
cityscape.
Jim
Delligatti: One of the earliest McDonald's franchise
owners (he operated a dozen stores around Pittsburgh), he invented
the Big Mac sandwich at his franchise in Uniontown in 1968, affecting
the eating habits of generations of Americans.
Ludwig
Dernoshek: "Champagne music" just would not have
been as bubbly without this engineer at the William Penn Hotel.
Orchestra-leader Lawrence Welk claimed to have got his big break
at the downtown hotel in the late 1930s. Someone at a Pittsburgh
radio station said Welk's music was so bubbly it was like champagne,
and Welk and his band liked that idea. Later on, in 1948, Dernoshek
devised what would become Welk's first "bubble machine," a bread
pan, an old clock motor on which were soldered little bubble wands,
and a little fan in the back. Welk and his Champagne Music Makers
loved it.
Dr.
Thomas Detre: As Pitt's senior vice chancellor of health
sciences (1983-92), Detre recruited Dr. Thomas Starzl to UPMC and
worked to build UPMC into a world leader in transplantation. UPMC
has often been a world leader in specific techniques, including
liver and lung, and a pioneer in such techniques as multiple-organ
and small-intestine transplants. Under Detre, UPMC rose from 36th
to 14th on the National Institutes of Health's list of most highly
funded medical centers, to more than $170 million per year. UPMC
is also the single-largest nongovernment employer in the city.
William
Dietrich: The chairman of Dietrich Industries, a steel
company, is also devoting his time to nurturing entrepreneurship
to make for a better future Pittsburgh. He serves as president of
the Mallard Fund, a regional investment company fund with holdings
in real estate and oil, and has leadership positions with the Greater
Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce, the PRA, the Allegheny Conference
and The Southwestern Pennsylvania Growth Alliance.
Annie
Dillard: The Pittsburgh (Homewood)-born author has written
several
books, including "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek," which
won a Pulitzer Prize in 1975. Although she lives in Connecticut
now, her 1987 book, "An American Childhood," was a personal
reflection of Pittsburgh and the life of her family here.
Lulu
and Mame Dippold: In 1906, these Sewickley sisters became
two of the first four women awarded a pilot's license to operate
boats between Pittsburgh and Cincinnati.
Mike
Ditka: Aliquippa native enshrined in Pro Football Hall
of Fame in 1988 (University of Pittsburgh alum). Played for 1961-66
Chicago Bears, 1967-68 Philadelphia Eagles, and 1969-72 Dallas Cowboys
(tight end 6-3, 225), and the first tight end elected to the Hall.
Became the beloved coach of Super Bowl-winning Chicago Bears, and
a sort of cultural icon in the process. Scored final touchdown in
Cowboys' Super Bowl VI win. Consensus All-America, 1960. Bears'
No. 1 pick, 1961. Fast, rugged, outstanding blocker, great competitor.
Big-play star of Bears' 1963 title team. Rookie of the Year, 1961.
All-NFL four years, in five straight Pro Bowls. Career record: 427
receptions, 5,812 yards, 43 TDs. Book about him test-marketed in
Pittsburgh in December before 2000 release.
Frank
R. and Ralph M. Dravo: Descended from a family synonymous
with early Pittsburgh river history, the brothers turned a river-contracting
business into the nationally known Dravo Corp., which helped win
World War II. At its Neville Island yard, Dravo turned out LSTs
like doughnuts.
J.
Christopher Donahue: President and CEO of Federated Investors
Inc., one of the nation's largest investment-management and financial-services
companies, with nearly $120 billion in assets in more than 175 mutual
funds and separate accounts. Donahue, a Pitt law school grad, has
been with the downtown Pittsburgh-based company for 26 years, and
develops the firm's long-term strategies and goals. A board member
of the Allegheny Conference, he is also active in regionalism, chairing
such committees as the Convention Facilities Needs Assessment Task
Force, among others.
Tony
Dorsett: Hopewell native and member of professional and
college football's Halls of Fame. Played on Pitt's 1976 national
championship team and until last year held the NCAA Division I record
for rushing. Still returns to the area each year for a charity golf
event that bears his name to benefit the McGuire Home for troubled
youths.
 Barney
Dreyfuss: Baseball owner whose method of "pirating"
players from other teams (it worked; his teams finished over .500
in 26 of the 32 years he owned them) led to the nickname the team
still has today. And for that team he built Forbes Field (opened
1909), whose record of never hosting a no-hitter in its 60-year
history has never been equaled. Also instrumental in setting up
the first-ever World Series.
Larry
Druffel: Director and "godfather" of CMU's Software Engineering
Institute, succeeding Manley in 1986. Druffel conceived the idea
of such an institute in the late '70s when he realized that software
technology was not only critical to the Department of Defense, but,
as he claimed, for the economic well-being of the country.
Allen
B. DuMont: Pittsburgh electronics genius who helped to
develop radar and started his own TV network, DuMont Television,
which ultimately foundered but, for a while, provided programs to
several dozen affiliates. He owned three major-market stations outright:
WABD in New York, WTTG in Washington and WDTV (later KDKA) in Pittsburgh,
the city's first TV station.
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E
 Billy
Eckstine: The Hill District-based
band leader, balladeer and heartthrob recorded his first hit, "Skylark,"
with fellow Pittsburgher Earl "Fatha" Hines, and is credited with
helping to introduce the be-bop sound. Could sing both blues and
ballads. Female fans showed their appreciation by tossing their
underwear on stage.
Eddie
Edwards: The owner of WCWB was not only the first
African-American to own a TV station in a top-20 broadcast market,
but at 48 is one of the youngest owner-operators in the U.S. (he
now owns four other stations around the country).
K.G.
Engelhardt: 1990 director of CMU's Center for Human Service
Robots, which developed the Pizzabot, a mechanical arm that spread
tomato sauce over a 12-inch prepared crust and sprinkled the right
amounts of cheese, pepperoni and mushrooms on said pizza, demonstrated
at Fox's Pizza Den on the North Side in the same year (1990). The
robot was designed primarily to assist workers with physical disabilities,
but similar technology could also eventually help meet the demand
for labor in fast food and other service industries, according to
Engelhardt. The robot responded to vocal commands and was controlled
by an Apple Macintosh-based computer. It was specifically developed
as part of the Robotic Assisted Employment (RAE) Institute project,
aimed at developing computer-based innovations to provide new opportunities
for the physically challenged.
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F
Leon
Falk: Helped to set up Weirton Steel Co., which became
National Steel. Philanthropic interests were primarily on health
care and medical research (he contributed Falk Clinic to what's
now UPMC). Also assisted German Jews in escaping Europe during the
'30s; in his spare time, he bred Hereford cattle and is credited
with making advances in that field.
Maurice
Falk (1866-1946): The founder of Duquesne Reduction,
a firm that smelted copper and other metals, and co-founder of the
Falk Chemical Co. When he decided to create a foundation in 1929
with $10 million, he followed the Rosenwald model to impose a 35-year
time limit on it. The Maurice and Laura Falk Foundation (dissolved
in 1965) spent most of its funds on Pittsburgh charities (there
are many professorships named for the Falks, Pitt's Maurice and
Laura Falk Library of the Health Sciences, and many other legacies)
plus various good government programs and an institute in Israel.
It was also a major contributor to the Brookings Institution, which
named its auditorium after the Falk family.
Jim
Ferlo: Former
'60s activist now a
member of City Council, known for applying the methods and philosophies
of the former to the latter: He was once carried bodily out of a
council meeting, and tried to maintain a sit-in to prevent the demolition
of the Syria Mosque.
Robin
Fernandez: Changed the way Pittsburgh plays at night,
starting with Metropol (1989), which began the now-large and growing
nightclub scene in the Strip District. His Heaven enlivened downtown
for several years.
John
Filo: While still an undergraduate at Kent State University,
he took the photo of the May 4, 1970 shooting that won the Pulitzer
Prize that year. He was then interning at the Valley Daily News
in Tarentum, where his family lived, and sent over the wire the
famous photo of a young girl screaming over the body of one
of the victims.
Dr.
Bernard Fisher: The Distinguished Service Professor of
Surgery at UPMC was the leader of the largest breast cancer study
group in the U.S. when his 35-year-long career was almost destroyed
by accusations of data falsification in the 1990s, though he was
ultimately vindicated. Pioneered new breast cancer treatment, lumpectomy
(showed removal of lump could be as affective), which saved many
women from disfigurement.
Chester
Fisher: Pittsburgh native founded Fisher Scientific Materials
Co. (later Fisher Scientific) in 1902 at age 20. With local industries
needing to conduct experiments for R&D and quality control, he foresaw
a need for a company to produce the materials for experiments, and
it became the largest company of its kind in the world. He also
worked with scientists, both in industry and medicine, and was pro-active
in assessing what they needed to conduct experiments. He also began
what became the largest collection of scientific art in the world.
His brother Edwin was an inventor and held dozens of patents. His
son James Fisher was a major catalyst for fundraising and expansion
at The Carnegie.
John
S. Fisher: Governor of Pennsylvania (1927-31), he was
born on a farm one mile northeast of the Plumville location where
a state marker was erected in 1950 to commemorate his dedication
to the support of an extensive state building program. Fisher also
revised the state fiscal system and promoted the conservation of
natural resources.
Joseph
C. Fitzpatrick: The teacher who taught the Tam O'Shanter
and Palette Saturday art classes at The Carnegie Museum for nearly
50 years, beginning in the 1920s. He influenced thousands of Pittsburgh's
most gifted young artists, including Andy Warhol, Philip Pearlstein,
Mel Bochner and Jonathan Borofsky.
Mary
Pat Flaherty and Andrew Schneider: This team captured
the first Pulitzer Prize won by the now-defunct Pittsburgh Press.
In the category of Specialized Reporting, the prize was conferred
for their reporting on the global business in human organ harvesting.
When the Press was purchased following a strike in 1993, Flaherty
joined The Washington Post.
The
Flatheads: The
gang responsible for the world's first armored truck holdup, on
March 11, 1927, about seven miles away from Pittsburgh, on Bethel
Road on the way to Coverdale. An armored truck carrying a $104,250
payroll of the Pittsburgh Terminal Coal Co. blew up when it drove
over a mine planted under the roadbed by the bandits. Five guards
were badly injured.
Tom
Foerster: The last of the political bosses, the North
Side resident served as Allegheny County commissioner from 1968
to 1995. Most of that time he worked to create a new, modern airport
and to make Pittsburgh into a hub city. Opened in 1992, the airport
has consistently won raves from business travelers and others for
its convenience and comfort.
Randy
Forrester: Longtime (since about 1969) force and presence
in the area's gay community. His most recent action was appearing
before City Council in October 1999 to encourage passage of a bill
providing for same-sex health benefits for employees of the city.
He is executive director of Persad
Center, an East Liberty-based mental health center that caters
to sexual minorities and HIV patients, and has served there since
the 1970s. Persad was founded in 1972, when options for sympathetic
treatment of sexual minorities were few. Forrester was the first
openly gay person to run for Allegheny County commissioner. Although
his bid on the Democratic ticket was unsuccessful, the 1979 campaign
helped spur the gay community into more active participation in
the political process, including fielding questions of candidates
about their opinions on issues of concern to gay residents.
Dr.
Solomon B. Freehof: Came to Rodef Shalom in 1921 as an
assistant and became an important community figure. For more than
35 years, Dr. Freehof's weekly book reviews attracted audiences
of more than 1,500 Christians and Jews annually. During the late
1930s and early 1940s, Temple members were active in attempts to
bring Jews out of Germany. Rabbi Freehof led the congregation in
taking financial responsibility for refugees entering the United
States. Later, Rodef Shalom congregants led in supporting and raising
funds for the new State of Israel. He also wrote 24 books on Jewish
law and ritual, and updated the Union Prayerbook.
Helen
Clay Frick: Philanthropist and art collector with family
fortune made in local steel and coke in 19th century; interest in
programs aimed at working women, but local contributions also include
the land now occupied by Pitt's Cathedral of Learning, Heinz Chapel
and Stephen Foster Memorial; Frick
Art Museum (now part of the Frick Art & Historical Center, which
includes Clayton, the house she considered her true home); and,
for what it's worth, Pitt's Frick Fine Arts Building (disagreements
between donor and Pitt officials caused Frick to withdraw her support
and establish her own art museum). Also founder and organizer of
first art library (at NYC Frick).
Henry
Clay Frick: Speculated in downtown Pittsburgh real estate
(with fortune made in local steel and coke in 19th century), including
the Frick Building and the William Penn Hotel, purported to be the
grandest hotel in America at the time; also amassed great art collection,
which he moved to New York in a new house built to become a museum
(the Frick Collection). Bequests in his 1918 will included 151 acres
for Frick Park (endowed with a $2 million trust) and money for Mercy,
Children's and Allegheny General hospitals, Kingsley House Association,
YWCA and many others.
Dr.
Freddie H. Fu: Sports medicine pioneer and a magnet for
doctors around the world who want to study with him. A 1977 Pitt
medical school graduate (with post-grad work at several big-league
institutions), Fu returned in 1982 as assistant professor of orthopedic
surgery and director of sports medicine. He was instrumental in
starting (in 1985) the Sports and Preventive Medicine Institute,
now the UPMC Health System Center for Sports Medicine, with its
own building in Oakland. Under his directorship, it has grown into
the region's largest, most comprehensive sports medicine center
and is considered one of the best in the nation. Head team physician
for Pitt's athletic department since 1986, Dr. Fu has also worked
with local pro teams, has published extensively (editor of 12 major
textbooks, author of 60 book chapters, etc.), and has won more than
70 awards (including honorary doctorates) and major research grants.
The Hong Kong native also made headlines in 1994, when he turned
down an appointment as chairman of the orthopedic surgery department
at prestigious University of Pennsylvania because he and his family
wanted to stay in Pittsburgh.
Hilda
Fu: Director of the Pittsburgh Regional Champions since
1998, she is a major "Pittsburgh ambassador" to out-of-towners and
to Pittsburghers who still believe so many myths and outdated ideas
about this area. Her group, part of the Pittsburgh
Regional Alliance, trains people to act as "ambassadors" (speakers)
and produces printed materials, such as the Pittsburgh Regional
Champions Brag Book, to use in corporate recruiting. The Hong Kong
native (married to Freddie Fu) has earned two master's degrees locally
(public management, CMU; library science, Pitt), and has considered
Pittsburgh her "hometown" since the 1970s.
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G
Loti
Falk Gaffney: Primary benefactor of the Pittsburgh
Ballet Theatre in its early history, assuring its growth from
a mostly student college-based company into a fully professional
regional ballet with a growing national reputation. Especially known
(with her then-husband Leon Falk) for buying an old commercial building
in the Strip District and remodeling it into the PBT Building, which
provided sufficient and high-quality space for the PBT school, company
rehearsal halls, costume shop, etc.
Robert
Garland: A city councilman during the first World War,
he devised the nation's first daylight savings plan, instituted
in 1918.
 Erroll
Garner: Legendary jazz pianist/composer from Pittsburgh,
known nationally for many hits, such as "Misty," that are now jazz
standards.
Josh
Gibson:
Depending on your point of view, Josh was the Babe Ruth of
the Negro Leagues -- or maybe the Babe was the white Josh
Gibson. He began his career with the Homestead Grays at age
18 in 1930, and starred for the Crawfords as Satchel Paige's battery
mate. The Negro League's most prodigious power hitter (hit well
over .300 in the Negro Leagues with unsurpassed number of home runs).
Commemorated with historical marker at 2217 Bedford Ave. in the
Hill District; also purportedly the inspiration for August Wilson's
Pulitzer Prize-winning play, "Fences."
Jeff
Goldblum: West Homestead native is one of today's biggest
Hollywood stars
from such blockbusters as "Jurassic Park" and "Independence
Day," not to mention his cult following from "The Fly."
Vincent
Golletti: Pioneer in Pennsylvania's credit union movement.
Established credit unions in Beaver County for Freedom Oil Co.,
Sinclair-Koppers, Freedom Area Schools, as well as developing similar
financial services for a number of churches.
R.
Burt Gookin: The first non-Heinz-family CEO at the global
food processor (1961). He introduced new financial and management
practices, restructured the company and led two key domestic acquisitions:
StarKist (in 1963) and Ore-Ida (in 1965).
Gertrude
Gordon: One of the first of the "sob sisters," the first
woman reporter to receive a byline in a Pittsburgh newspaper (the
Press).
Aaron
Gorson: When he opened his studio in Pittsburgh in 1903,
Aaron Gorson (1872-1933) wanted to provide something new in his
painting, and Pittsburgh provided him with that opportunity. Who
would have thought that a steel mill at night could be a thing of
beauty? Although that can still be a hard concept for some to grasp,
Gorson was a pioneer in industrial chic, creating heroic landscapes
of the city's industrial might -- providing visual proof that not
only was this nothing to be ashamed of aesthetically, but moreover
it was a unique visual feast to be celebrated.
Mel
Goode: Homestead native and TV pioneer who became the
nation's first African-American television correspondent, in 1962.
Martha
Graham (1894-1991): The founder of the modern-dance movement
was born in the 1890s in Allegheny City, from which her family left
for California when she was a young girl. Her reminiscences about
her life are included in her autobiography, "Blood Memory."
She worked with many of the great talents of the day, including
Aaron Copland, whose symphonic work "Appalachian Spring"
she choreographed.
Hank
Greenberg (1911-86): Baseball star who played for Detroit
Tigers (1930-46) and the Pirates in 1947. A two-time MVP, he closed
out his career in Pittsburgh, at Forbes Field's "Greenberg Gardens."
"Mean"
Joe Greene: Member of Pittsburgh Steelers (1969-81) and
pop-culture icon, due in large part to his, "Hey kid, here," Coca
Cola commercial in the late 1970s-early 1980s, where he threw his
jersey to an eager young fan. Became "cornerstone of franchise"
that dominated the NFL in 1970s. Played in four Super Bowls, six
AFC title games and 10 Pro Bowls. Enshrined in the Pro Football
Hall of Fame in 1987. (Defensive tackle 6-4, 260). Consensus All-America,
1968. No. 1 draft pick, 1969. Exceptional team leader, possessed
size, speed, quickness, strength, determination. NFL Defensive Player
of Year, 1972, 1974. All-Pro or All-AFC nine years.
Gus
Greenlee: Noted Hill District entrepreneur (mainly from
numbers) who used his fortune to build the greatest black-owned
ballpark in the country (Greenlee Field) for one of the greatest
teams in baseball history: the Pittsburgh Crawfords, which he had
taken over; the team he built had five future Hall of Famers (Josh
Gibson, Oscar Charleston, Judy Johnson, James "Cool Papa" Bell and
Leroy Robert "Satchel" Paige); also owned the Crawford Grill; also
resurrected Negro National League and installed its offices above
Crawford Grill. Owned and managed John Henry Lewis, light-heavyweight
champion of the world.
Ralph
E. Griswold: Landscape architect and prime designer of
Point State Park.
Charles
Grodin: The comic actor and author said that growing
up near the Pittsburgh Zoo in Highland Park, where the roar of the
lions kept him awake as a child and the hyenas laughed at all his
jokes, formed his way of looking at life. Best known for his roles
in the blockbuster St. Bernard-centric "Beethoven" films and his
action-comedy turn in "Midnight Run," as well as for his
political/cultural/social-themed talk show on cable news network
CNBC.
Joe
Grushecky: The leader of 1970s rock band the Iron City
Houserockers has been a darling of the rock critics, garnering praise
from publications including "Rolling Stone" and "Creem."
His 1995 release, "American Babylon," was produced by
Bruce Springsteen, who often shares both the stage and writing chores
with Grushecky.
George
W. Guthrie: Mayor of Pittsburgh and co-author of the
Pittsburgh-Allegheny merger bill, which forced the incorporation
of Allegheny City (the state's third largest city) into a Greater
Pittsburgh. Decades in coming and fraught with many obstacles—most
notable being that a majority of Alleghenians vociferously opposed
the merger—when the deed was finally done, on Dec. 9, 1907, an engorged
Pittsburgh had become the sixth largest city in the United States.
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