ownway,shewasmovingclosertothePressbuildingnearPointStatePark. By 1956, she was hired at the Press — as secretary to the Outdoors editor. Sylvia, who lived in Squirrel Hill, likely demonstrated her appreciation of thegreatoutdoorsbecauseshejourneyedonmanyweekendstoherfamily’s cottage in Zelienople. Over the next few years, she took evening classes at the University of Pittsburgh for her undergraduate degree. Also after hours, she began contributing news and feature stories and book reviews until there was no alternative but to hire her as a full-time reporter. As the newspaper’s presses rolled through the 1980s, Sylvia Sachs put Pittsburgh on the literary map by bringing in hundreds of authors to the Book and Author dinners, which attracted 1,500 attendees for each event. She fretted down to the last detail, including setting up additional television and radio interviews for the authors. A hesitant driver who cajoled photographers into taking her to assignments, Sachsdisplayedfeatsofjournalisticfearlessnessbypicking up the authors at the airport and driving them to the TV stations and radio studios. Bythecloseofthedecade,Sachsalsotooknotethatthe newsroomwasfilledwithanincreasingnumberofwomen reporters,includingthePress’sfirstwomantocovercrime; thefirstwomansportsreporter;awomanwhowonaPulitzer Prize; and the paper’s first woman managing editor. Aftermorethan40years,itwastime,shesaid,tomove on from her beloved Pittsburgh Press. It was more of a transition than retirement: She taught adults how to read; she learned chess and played in weekly matches; and she joinedabridgeclub.Then,whenthePittsburghPost-Gazette resumedpublicationafterthe1992newspaperstrike,editors persuadedhertoonceagaincoordinatetheBookandAuthor dinners.Fromthere,shemovedonin2002tohelpestablish thePittsburghchapteroftheOsherLifelongLearningInstitute at Carnegie Mellon University — drawing on her years of reporting to bring Pittsburgh’s leaders and celebrities to speak to packed rooms of retirees. Sylvia was beginning to slow down, but certainly not retreat. She regularly scoured the Carnegie Library and Oakmont’s Mystery Lovers Bookshop for her greatest pastime,mysterynovels.BooksbyAnnePerry,ScottTurow, SuzanneHamiltonFree,P.DJames,MinetteWalters,RuthRendell(thelist goes on-and-on), crammed her living room’s bookshelves and were piled into a version of side tables near her reading chair. Even as her eyesight began failing, and she became less confident leaving her second-floor apartment, she remained engaged in national and world affairs — and in the women who had been given opportunities because of her. Many of us had become good friends. Then,in2007,Sachsfoundstillanotherwaytocontributebydesignating $230,000toestablishaPittsburghFoundationfundfor“Pittsburghcultural institutionsandeducation.” Shetoldme,almostasanafterthought.Exceptit wasn’t.Iunderstoodbythenthatshealwaysknewexactlywhatshewanted — for herself, for her community and for the women who followed her. ▪ She was strong and stubborn, and she had a lifelong love of learning and a desire to help other women succeed. DEBORAH SULLIVAN RBC Wealth Management 16 WEALTH OF KNOWLEDGE