Mitzi Lux Austin EDUC ’52, January 2025, age 94, of Honolulu, Hawaii. She was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, and was the youngest of five siblings. She majored in elementary education at Pitt and earned a Bachelor of Science. She later earned a master’s degree in early childhood development from the University of Hawaii. As a teacher, she modeled how to be kind and loving, and she inspired her students to be excited to learn. Prior to teaching, she was an officer in the Navy and served in communications for three years. She married Lieutenant James Monteith Austin, a naval aviator, in 1953, and they enjoyed 52 years of marriage. She is survived by three children, five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Walter L. Bloom, EDUC ’76, ’79G, February 2025, age 94, of Scott Township, Pennsylvania. He served as a Lance Corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps and graduated from Pitt with a bachelor’s and master’s degree in education. He worked as an electrician at Westinghouse, with Carnegie Mellon University doing experimental testing, and then taught industrial controls and residential wiring at Brashear High School for more than 28 years. He met his wife, Anne Marie while at CMU and they were married for 50 years before she passed away. The couple enjoyed breeding, raising and showing their award-winning bulldogs and he was an accredited judge for the American Kennel Association. In 1971, Walter was also Past Master for Fraternity Masonic Lodge # 705. He was an avid fisherman and hunter and will be remembered for his sense of humor, love of knowledge and ability to share with others and love of family and friends. He is survived by a son, a stepdaughter, and a granddaughter.

Ronald C. Carlisle A&S ’71, October 2024, age 76, of Upper St. Clair, Pennsylvania, formerly of Carnegie, Pennsylvania. He was a Pittsburgh area archeologist and historian and wrote the book “The Story of ‘Woodville’: The History, Architecture, and Archaeology of a Western Pennsylvania Farm,” published by the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation. Passionate about music, he was a percussionist and timpanist in the McKeesport Symphony Orchestra and the owner of Carlisle Percussion Products. He was also known for his love of animals.

William “Bill” Adolphus Granberry Fisher, EDUC ’48, April 2025, age 100 of Pittsburgh. A pioneering educator, he made history in 1971 when, during the tumult of desegregation, he became the first African American principal at the predominately white Taylor Allderdice High School in Pittsburgh. He served there for 20 years. During his senior year at Pitt, Fisher became the first Black male student to be peer-elected to the University’s Hall of Fame. His achievements continued from there. While a teacher at Fifth Avenue High School, he earned a master’s degree in education from Duquesne. He eventually served as vice principal at Westinghouse High and Fifth Avenue High, before arriving at Allderdice. Fisher grew up in the city’s East End and graduated as valedictorian from Peabody High (now Obama Academy. In 2022, Fisher received a Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Pitt African American Alumni Council, which recognized that he “exemplified the highest ideals of service and leadership, inspiring generations past and present.” Read more about Fisher's career and contributions to Pitt and beyond.

Donna (Opalinski) Garbera NURS ’79, February 2025, age 67, of Robinson Township, Pennsylvania. She was born in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, and attended Southmoreland High School. After graduating from Pitt Nursing, she worked as a registered nurse for hospitals in Pittsburgh and Buffalo, New York. In addition to her nursing career, she was a volunteer at Focus on Renewal in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, where she promoted inclusion, offered support and championed family wellness. She met her husband, Dennis, when he was studying at Pitt Dental Medicine and went with him to Buffalo for his training in orthodontics. They were married in 1981, and their wedding was the first one to be held in Letchworth State Park in New York. They adopted and raised three children, and she kept their family home beautiful and lively with an array of colorful flowers and plants that attracted monarch butterflies and hummingbirds. She was known for her excellent cooking, which was enjoyed by all during family gatherings. She also loved spending time in Florida and creating seashell masterpieces to display at home. She is survived by her husband and three children, as well as extended family.

Colin “Coke” Lee Kamperman MED ’55, March 2025, age 94, of Tellico Village, Tennessee. He was born in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania, and graduated from Ellwood City High School before attending Geneva College. After earning a Doctor of Medicine from Pitt, he was commissioned into the Navy Medical Corps. Boarded in family practice and preventive medicine with a subspecialty in occupational medicine, he set up a family practice in New Kensington, Pennsylvania, and joined the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa) soon after. He was also on the staff of Citizens General Hospital and started a free clinic to provide no-cost immunizations to the community. He became the medical director of Alcoa New Kensington Works and later transferred to Maryville, Tennessee, where he was named the medical director of the Tennessee and North Carolina operations. In Maryville, he volunteered with the Blount County Rescue Squad to provide emergency care and support services to people in the county and its surrounding areas. Following his retirement from Alcoa in 1986, he spent 10 years as the head of occupational medicine at the Army’s Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. Returning to Tennessee, he and his wife settled in Tellico Village. He volunteered with the Loudon County Rescue Squad, and his work there resulted in the creation of the EMT division of the Tellico Village Volunteer Fire Department. He enjoyed fly-fishing and wood carving, and he was an American Red Cross disaster response volunteer and a member of the Knights of Columbus, as well as a lector and lay eucharistic minister at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church of Lenoir City. He is survived by his wife of 67 years and three children, as well as his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Robert J. Maddalon A&S ’73, February 2025, age 74, of Tampa, Florida. He was born in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, and graduated from Saint Francis de Sales High School as the salutatorian, a four-year varsity basketball starter and a basketball section champion. As a student at Pitt-Johnstown, he played basketball on the varsity team as well as the first-year team. After earning a Bachelor of Science from Pitt, he completed a Master of Science at Duquesne University and a Doctor of Medicine at the Medical College of Pennsylvania (now Drexel University). He was an orthopedic surgeon and a founding partner of Brandon Orthopedic Associates. From 1985 until 2021, he served patients in Tampa, Brandon and Sun City, working to relieve chronic pain and improve quality of life. He restored the ability to walk for countless individuals and enjoyed running into past patients at local restaurants and sporting events. Dependable and sincere, he was a dedicated husband and father who encouraged his children to “dream big dreams.” He was an avid sports fan and continued to support the Pittsburgh Steelers, Pittsburgh Pirates and Pitt Panthers from afar, though he also developed a fondness for the Tampa Bay Lightning, Buccaneers and Rays. He is survived by his wife of 31 years and three children.

Joseph Michael Mastro EDUC ’49G, April 2021, age 97, of Elizabeth City, North Carolina. He was born in Jeannette, Pennsylvania, and attended Jeannette High School. A talented athlete, he played varsity football, basketball and baseball. He was a quarterback for the Jeannette Jayhawks in 1939 when they won the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League Championship. In basketball, he was the second-highest scorer in Westmoreland County his senior year. He earned a football scholarship to Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania, and in addition to being a varsity quarterback, he was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon. In 1942, he enlisted in the V-12 Navy College Training Program. He graduated from the Midshipmen’s School at Columbia University in 1944 and served as one of six officers aboard the LCI(G) 439. He participated in three major invasions in World War II: Leyte Gulf and Lingayen Gulf in the Philippines and Okinawa, Japan. After completing his active naval duty in 1946, he married Mary T. Russo and returned to Westminster College, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts. He went on to receive a Master of Education from Pitt in 1949 and later pursued additional graduate studies at Pitt and Carnegie Mellon University. He taught social studies and coached football at Rankin High School, Jeannette High School and Derry Area High School before joining the faculty at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) as an associate professor. From 1969 to 1989, he taught courses in history and social studies methods and supervised social studies student teachers in public schools in western Pennsylvania. He was active in the faculty union and served as health and welfare chair. He was named professor emeritus in 1990. After Mary’s death in 1981, he married Cynthia Nixon Creekmore, an IUP librarian, in 1984. They traveled and hiked extensively and visited places such as Great Britain, Switzerland, Iceland, Italy, Chile, China, Egypt and Peru. His other hobbies included golf, gardening and cheering on the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Pitt Panthers. He was a loving father, grandfather and great-grandfather who was proud of his family and their accomplishments.

Gwen Miller EDUC ’83G, December 2024, age 90, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She grew up in the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn and attended Abraham Lincoln High School. She graduated from Hunter College and taught English in New York City before moving to Pittsburgh and earning a Master of Education from Pitt. She was considered the unofficial mother of “Scope and Scalpel,” Pitt Med’s annual musical production, as she was married to one of the tradition’s founding members, Felix “Bebe” Miller. Always one to listen and offer comfort, she was a counselor for the Allegheny Intermediate Unit at Wilkinsburg High School and a case worker at Big Brothers Big Sisters. She was a member of the Pitt School of Education Alumni Society Board and served as vice president of the Center for Human Development and the Rodef Shalom Congregation Sisterhood. She also started the Young Women’s Event Series at the Ladies Hospital Aid Society at UPMC Montefiore. She continued to be active in retirement and enjoyed organizing events for her book club and garden club. Predeceased by her husband, she is survived by two sons.

John Pekich A&S ’64, June 2024, age 81, of Ocean City, New Jersey. He was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and came to Pitt to study in the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and graduated summa cum laude. Devoted to the arts and humanities, he was a writer, actor and director who had a wide range of interests and talents. In 1982, he received a literary fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. He was a faculty member at the Mays Landing campus of Atlantic Cape Community College and taught photography, theater, acting and playwriting courses. He also led workshops in short story writing, screenwriting and filmmaking for different organizations and was a member of the Dramatists Guild and the Authors League of America. A longtime Francophile, he wrote many articles for the travel and culture website “The Good Life France” and was especially passionate about the south of France. He loved to read and spent many years with the book club the Grub Street Rapscallions. He is survived by his daughter, nieces and great-nieces.

Frank J. Perzak A&S ’79G, December 2024, age 92, of Pleasant Hills, Pennsylvania. He was raised in Pittsburgh and earned an undergraduate degree in chemistry from Carnegie Mellon University, followed by a doctorate in chemistry from Pitt. For more than 40 years, he worked as an occupational safety and health research chemist for the U.S. Bureau of Mines within the Department of the Interior. He was an expert in fires and explosives research and conducted research with ammonium nitrite, fire galleries and the fire behavior of mine materials. When he retired, the Department of the Interior recognized him with the Superior Service Award. He loved to travel and created many wonderful memories during the trips he took with his wife. Their travels took them across the United States as well as to Europe and Australia. One of his favorite memories was seeing the wildflowers in Yankee Boy Basin in Colorado. He was drawn to water, which led to family adventures boating on Pittsburgh’s rivers. Predeceased by his wife of 54 years, he is survived by two nephews.

Melanie Russell SOC WK ’72G, February 2025, age 81, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She was born in Rochester, New York, and spent her summers working at Kodak, where she developed a love of cameras. She studied history at Mount Union College (now the University of Mount Union) in Ohio before completing a Master of Social Work at Pitt. She spent the first few years of her career as an advocate for children in the juvenile court system. She then spent more than 20 years with Goodwill as personnel director in Pittsburgh’s South Side neighborhood. Beginning in the 1990s, she took yearly trips to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where she enjoyed sitting on the beach and shopping on Rehoboth Avenue. An animal lover, she rescued several cats who became her loyal companions. She was also a talented seamstress and could take apart clothing and put it back together again. She is survived by her wife of 32 years, Christine Zarnich.

Richard A. Ryba A&S ’71, EDUC ’98G, August 2024, age 74, of Lower Burrell, Pennsylvania. He was born in Denver, Colorado, and graduated from Burrell High School. While at Pitt, he was a member of the band. He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics followed by a master’s degree in education and worked as an instructional designer at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. He was involved with many local and national organizations, including the American Cancer Society, St. Margaret Mary Church, the American Wine Society, the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, the Kiski Valley Community Band and the Skyview Radio Society. Family and friends will always remember the nine trips he organized to Bucine, Italy, from 2004 to 2023.

Herbert Sorrell Soltman BUS ’55, January 2025, age 89, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was raised in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood and attended Linden Elementary School, followed by Taylor Allderdice High School. At Pitt, he was a member of Phi Epsilon Pi and played trombone in the Pitt Band. After graduating with a Bachelor of Business Administration, he enlisted in the Army. From 1956 to 1958, he was stationed in the Panama Canal Zone. While there, he fell in love with the people and the culture, a sentiment he carried with him for the rest of his life. When he returned to Pittsburgh, he worked with his grandfather and father at the family’s wholesale packaging business, Charles Stewart Co., which his grandfather founded in 1925. He married Jo Mitchell in 1961, and they raised two daughters in Mt. Lebanon. A proud ambassador for Pittsburgh, he welcomed and hosted hundreds of visitors from around the world and led city tours for the Pittsburgh Council for International Visitors (now GlobalPittsburgh). In 2015, he was recognized in Washington, D.C., with the Global Ties U.S. Volunteer of the Year Award for 53 years of service. A devoted fan of the Pittsburgh Pirates, he was present at Game 7 of the 1960 World Series when the Pirates defeated the New York Yankees at Forbes Field. He was a proud member of the Game 7 Gang, which organizes an event at the Forbes Field wall every October 13 to replay the broadcast of the game and relive the Pirates’ victory. His faith was important to him, and he was a member of Rodef Shalom Congregation and Temple Emanuel. Having cherished his time in the Pitt Band, he participated in annual gameday performances with the Pitt Alumni Marching Band. He is survived by two daughters, three grandchildren and his life partner of 34 years, Hope Bassichis.

Cecile Springer SPIA ’71G, March 2025, age 94, of Pittsburgh. The New York City native was a former president of the Pitt Alumni Association. She earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemistry and worked as a research chemist in Massachusetts before moving to Pittsburgh in 1959. In 1971, she earned a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from Pitt’s School of Public and International Affairs. In 1974, she became a manager with the Westinghouse Advanced Energy Systems Division and from 1978 to 1989, she served as director of contributions and community affairs and president of the Westinghouse Foundation, the first Black woman to lead a major philanthropic institution in the Pittsburgh region. Following her career at Westinghouse, she founded a consulting firm, Springer Associates. She also co-founded the Women and Girls Foundation and the Pittsburgh Chapter of the ARCS Foundation and served on numerous community boards. Springer has been recognized as a Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania, with the YWCA of Greater Pittsburgh’s Racial Justice Award, the Pitt African American Alumni Council’s Distinguished Alumni Award and numerous other honors. She is survived by a daughter, five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Read more about Springer’s career and contributions to Pitt and beyond.

Adelaide Weir Sukiennik SCI ’65G, March 2025, age 86, of Pittsburgh and Elliott, Pennsylvania. After graduating from Pitt with a Master of Library Science, she worked at the University as a collections development librarian for many years. She then spent 20 years working part-time as a reference librarian for the Community College of Allegheny County. Helping students brought her immense joy, and she shared with them her passion for learning. She is survived by two daughters, a brother and a grandson.

Nancy M. Swensen A&S ’55, MED ’59, November 2024, age 90, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her fascination with medicine began at age 12 when she witnessed her father recover from a potentially fatal case of pneumonia thanks to treatment with penicillin. As a student at West View High School, she studied bacteria cultures in milk at her family’s dairy on the North Side of Pittsburgh. At Pitt, she was a bacteriology major and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in 1955. Continuing on to medical school, she was one of two women in her class of 83 students at Pitt Med. After earning her Doctor of Medicine in 1959, she practiced anesthesiology at Magee-Womens Hospital from 1962 to 1968. She was one of three founding members of Western Pennsylvania Anesthesia Associates (WPAA), which would eventually become the largest anesthesia practice in the region and served as managing partner for 30 years. In 1986, she received West Penn Hospital’s Gold-Headed Cane Award, which recognized a member of the hospital staff who exemplified the best qualities of a physician, teacher and researcher. She oversaw the expansion of WPAA’s practice to Sewickley Valley Hospital in 1988 and became the first female president of the Pennsylvania Society of Anesthesiology in 1993. Her diligence and care applied to her home life as well, and she oversaw the day-to-day activities of her family’s household. Always a gracious host, she enjoyed bringing people together and organized many get-togethers for family, friends and colleagues. Her other hobbies included cooking, gardening, tennis and competitive bridge. She is survived by her husband of 65 years, two children and five grandchildren.

Burton M. Tansky A&S ’61, Pitt emeritus trustee, March 2025, age 87, of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. He was raised in Pittsburgh and attended Peabody High School before coming to Pitt, where he majored in history and minored in economics. After graduating, he completed a six-week training program at Kaufmann’s, a department store in downtown Pittsburgh. He held various positions within the company and advanced steadily. After succeeding in management roles at Filene’s in Boston and Rike’s in Dayton, Ohio, he became a general merchandise manager at the luxury department store I. Magnin. He then worked for Saks Fifth Avenue and eventually rose to the role of president in 1980. His accomplishments at Saks made him a standout in the industry, and he was recruited to be chief executive officer of Bergdorf Goodman. He went on to become president and chief executive officer of Neiman Marcus. The leadership he displayed professionally was felt in the community as well, and his alma mater was no exception. He served on the Pitt Board of Trustees from 2003 to 2013 and cochaired the Building Our Future Together capital campaign, along with his sister and fellow trustee Eva Tansky Blum. He was named an emeritus trustee in 2013. His philanthropy supported areas on campus such as Alzheimer’s disease research and the Tansky Family Lounge in the William Pitt Union, a joint effort with sisters Eva and Shirley to honor their parents. Other places that benefited from his generosity include Jupiter Medical Center, Temple Judea of Palm Beach Gardens, the Kind Kitchen and Florida Atlantic University’s honors program. He was the recipient of many awards and honors, including the Gold Medal Award from the National Retail Foundation and the Legend of Luxury Award from the Luxury Marketing Council. In 2002, the French government appointed him a Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur for his promotion of French-made merchandise in America. At Pitt, he was named a Legacy Laurate in 2000 and a Distinguished Alumni Fellow in 2009, among other recognitions. In addition to his sister Eva, he is survived by his wife of 67 years, Rita, as well as two children and three grandchildren.