Pittsburgh is more than the boundaries of its
city limits. Within Western Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh's influence has long
encompassed "the Pittsburgh District." So, in creating a list of
"famous Pittsburghers," we take the liberty of including a number of
individuals, like Gertrude Stein, whose association may have been ever
so brief (actually, she was born in old Allegheny and not in
Pittsburgh) or like August Wilson, who has, in his adulthood, moved elsewhere.
Whatever their connection with the city at the Point, Pittsburgh has,
in some way, a claim upon these men and women, these sons and daughters.
Likewise, "fame" is relative. Few outside the region could identify
Richard Caliguiri as the late mayor of Pittsburgh; yet, ten years after
his death, his greatness, his humanity, still form the substance of
an overheard conversation at Wholey's in The Strip. And the Pittsburgh of
today would not be the Pittsburgh of today were it not for its
mayor, David Lawrence. Thus, the technology
of the World Wide Web builds upon the dictum of Andy Warhol--himself a
Pittsburgh native--about everybody's fifteen minutes of fame by making that
fame available virtually world-wide and in a flash.
Nellie Bly