The Pittsburgh Foundation

Edith Shapira elected

Edith Shapira elected first woman board chair of The Pittsburgh Foundation

PITTSBURGH, Pa.,  Jan. 1, 2013 - The Pittsburgh Foundation has re-elected Edith L. Shapira, M.D. to its board of directors. She is appointed as chair of the board – the first woman to chair the organization in its 68-year history.

Dr. Shapira, a psychiatrist in private practice since 1991, was re-elected after retiring from the Foundation’s board last year following nine years service. As chair of the Foundation’s board she succeeds Gregory Curtis, founder and chairman of global wealth advisory firm, Greycourt & Co. Inc, who retired from the Foundation’s board in December 2012 after serving as its chair for four years and as a Board member since 2003.

During her previous term with the Foundation’s Board, Dr. Shapira helped to lead a major transformation of the organization, including a strategic re-alignment to maximize its grantmaking impact and the development of philanthropic initiatives that became models for similar programs by other foundations across the United States.

And for Dr. Shapira, her return continues a dedicated family legacy with the Foundation, originally established by her late mother, Frieda Shapira who served on the Foundation’s board for 18 years. Frieda retired from the board in 2002 and passed away the following year.

“This is a special moment in the Foundation’s history,” said Grant Oliphant, the Foundation’s President and CEO. “The commitment and influence that Edie and her mother have contributed to the positive development of this organization are immeasurable. I am delighted to welcome Edie’s return to our board, and it is fitting and appropriate that she does so as our first woman board chair. We know that Freida would have been proud of that.”

Frieda, like her daughter after her, served for many years as chair of the Foundation’s Program and Policy grantmaking committee, and was elected vice chair of the Board towards the end of her tenure.

“In a different time, Frieda might well have become the Foundation’s first woman chair,” said Grant Oliphant, the Foundation’s president and CEO. “There is no question that Freida remains among a small number of past Board members whose service spanned so many years and whose influence was so great in our organization’s successful development.”

Dr. Shapira’s appointment as board chair is effective January 1, 2013, and she is elected for an initial three-year term.Throughout her previous nine-year service with the Board, Dr. Shapira served on the Foundation’s Program and Policy Committee, and she was elected chairman of the committee in 2008. Among her accomplishments was the reorganization of the Foundation’s funding of medical research with the creation of three endowed chairs in innovative cancer research, personalized medicine and psychotic disorders at the University of Pittsburgh.

Well known for her support of a wide range of charitable causes in the region, Dr. Shapira serves on the boards of the Pittsburgh Promise, Riverlife where she also served as co-chair, the board of visitors of the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work, the Allegheny County Board of Health and the Institute of Politics Shale Gas Round Table.

Dr. Shapira previously served on the boards of UPMC Presbyterian-Shadyside Hospitals, the Institute of Politics Water Management Task Force, and the Western Pa. Conservancy and is a recent past director with the Sports and Exhibition Authority and the Urban League of Pittsburgh.

Dr. Shapira is a clinical assistant professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. For each of the past 10 years she has been elected by her peers as one of the Best Doctors in America. In 2006, she was named a Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania by Governor Ed Rendell for her work to help those who were displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

“It is a profound honor to return to the Foundation’s board, and especially in the role as chair,” said Dr. Shapira. “The Pittsburgh Foundation is an incredibly important organization that has and continues to make a big difference in our community. I am looking forward to continue working with the Foundation’s inspirational leadership, staff and my board colleagues in a region about which I care very deeply.”

Also returning to the Foundation’s board is John Harmon, a partner with law firm, Lovett Bookman Harmon Marks LLP, where he concentrates on estate and trust law. Mr. Harmon was also re-elected after retiring from the board last year following nine years service. Mr. Harmon is elected as vice chair, succeeding Jim Roddey who together with Greg Curtis retired from the board last month.

Two new directors elected to the Foundation’s 19-member board are: Lee B. Foster, II, chairman of L.B. Foster Company, a Pittsburgh-based manufacturer and distributor of rail and construction products; and David J. Malone, president and CEO of Gateway Financial, which he helped found in 1982.