Category: default || By jt3y

One of the richest African-American women in the United States is a native of Our Fair City. Sheila Crump Johnson is the co-founder --- with her ex-husband, Bob Johnson --- of the Black Entertainment Television network, or BET.

Johnson, who has a net worth estimated at more than a billion dollars, and is planning to build a $50 million resort and stable in Virginia horse country, according to a profile this week in the Palm Beach Post. She divides her time these days between Virginia and Wellington, Fla., which is a far cry from her old stomping grounds.

OK, it may be a little bit of a stretch to call her a McKeesporter, since she hasn't lived here since she was a small child. Her father was one of only a handful of black neurosurgeons in the country; barred from practicing at many "white" hospitals, he worked for the Veterans Administration. Her mother was an accountant for the government. As a result, they moved around the country.

According to the Palm Beach newspaper, she's a graduate of the University of Illinois and an accomplished violinist. Johnson has also become a prominent philanthropist; she's the spokeswoman for the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children, sits on the board of directors of the Christopher Reeve Foundation, and recently donated a $7 million endowment to the Parsons School of Design in New York City. (According to this article from Ebony, she also supports the United Negro College Fund and the State University of New York.)

Altogether, she's done quite well for herself (and others) and she sounds like a classy lady, to boot.

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There are two obituaries of local interest to report. Judith Ann Bruhn Serrin died Saturday in New York City after an accident at home. She was 58. Serrin is a former reporter for The New York Times and the Detroit Free Press and is the wife of William Serrin, author of the landmark book Homestead: The Glory and Tragedy of an American Steel Town.

In recent years, the Serrins have been teaching journalism, he at NYU and she at Queens College in New York; they recently collaborated on the book Muckraking: The Journalism That Changed America. I was delighted to meet and interview the Serrins when they came back to Homestead to talk about muckraking journalism at the Pump House, and I found them both warm, funny and charming.

Besides her husband, Serrin is survived by two children and her father. Contributions may be made to the Judith Bruhn Serrin Memorial Scholarship Fund, 3 Washington Square Village, 2P, New York, NY 10012. Deepest sympathies to Bill Serrin and his family.

Also, Treshea Wade reported in the Tribune-Review that a longtime colorful fixture on the Mon-Yough scene has died after a long battle with cancer. Frank Sinatra --- the businessman from Glassport and Elizabeth Township, not the other one --- was 57.

Sinatra owned an advertising business in Glassport and devoted many hours of volunteer and charitable work in and around the Mon Valley. He was also an enthusiastic booster of the community and his alma mater, Point Park College (now University). According to Wade, Sinatra's wife said he made the most of his famous name, but he couldn't sing a note:

"People would always ask my husband to sing them a tune, and he always joked that he even hummed very badly," (Carol) Sinatra said, with a laugh. "He always handled the teasing and the questions very well."

Besides his wife, Mr. Sinatra is survived by two sisters, two brothers, and nieces and nephews. Contributions may be made to the Frank Sinatra Memorial Fund at Point Park University; to the Pittsburgh Italian Scholarship Fund, 24 Mt. Hope St., Pittsburgh, PA 15223; or to the Elizabeth Township Area EMS.

Requiescat in pace.

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On happier notes: Ann Belser had a nice story in the Post-Gazette on The Palisades Ballroom, which is about ready to turn a profit again. Besides the dancing and other community events, the Palisades is also home to the Water Street Cafe, a restaurant on the first floor.

Belser reports that the previous city administration had been giving away the use of the ballroom for free for many events instead of charging for hall rental. That led to the Palisades losing $6,751 in 2002 and nearly $10,000 in 2003. Now, Belser writes, the Palisades is on track to earn about $6,000 this year --- not a big revenue generator, but better than a deficit.

Unfortunately, Our Fair City is still subsidizing the operations of the McKees Point Marina to the tune of nearly $100,000 per year. As city auditor Raymond Malinchak tells her, "That's not the way you run a railroad or a boat dock."

The Marina has been a wonderful addition to the Mon-Yough area, but it doesn't seem fair that city taxpayers should be subsidizing it. First of all, it's a regional asset used by many non-city residents. Second, it still hasn't spurred the kind of redevelopment of lower Fifth Avenue that would justify a city investment of $100,000 per year; but in fairness, the Marina was supposed to be part of a complete redevelopment of the McKeesport waterfront stretching all the way down to the Monongahela River, and that hasn't happened yet. That, I suspect, is due to a lack of state or federal funding to relocate the Camp-Hill pipe yard that currently occupies much of the land.

It would be nice to see some private money invested or donated to boost the waterfront rehabilitation, which might surround the Marina with taxpaying businesses that would offset the city's subsidy.

Hmm ... does anyone have Sheila Johnson's phone number? 'Cause the "Sheila Crump Johnson Marina" doesn't have a bad ring to it.

Meanwhile, Jonathan Barnes writes in the P-G that city officials and RIDC have their eyes on redeveloping the old McKeesport Connecting Railroad roundhouse at the former U.S. Steel National Works. The roundhouse could be used either for light manufacturing or shopping, RIDC officials say.

The Antique Motor Coach Association of Pennsylvania currently use part of the roundhouse as a garage for the buses that they're restoring; their most recent project, a 1947 bus restored into the colors of the old Harmony Short Line is to be unveiled in April at the Heinz Regional History Center in Pittsburgh's Strip District.

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To Do This Weekend: In your Easter bonnet, with all of the frills upon it, you'll be the grandest lady in the Easter parade. Unless you're a guy, in which case, you're going to attract some stares, I suspect. ... Dallas Marks is at Big Tony's Bar & Grille, 699 O'Neil Blvd., Saturday night. Call (412) 498-1373. ... Nomad is at Guitars & Cadillacs (formerly "The Whinery") on Route 48 in White Oak tonight; call (412) 672-5750. ... And the Al Louis Band swings the Palisades, Fifth Avenue at Water Street, Saturday night; call (412) 678-6979.