The Pittsburgh Press from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 323

(5 fir 0 IK! Frank J. Pasquerilla stands in front of his corporation's headquarters. Building was former Johnstown post office, where Pasquerilla peddled newspapers as a boy. Notre Dame. It was the third-largest donation in the university's history.

Detractors thought he should have given the money to a Johnstown institution because "he made his money here." This despite the fact that Pasquerilla, as vice chairman of Johnstown Economic Development has played a major role in attracting industry to the area which has been bit by a slack in its coal and steel operations. Some observers say it was largely his effort which brought the Metropolitan Insurance mideastern headquarters and the ABEX railroad products wheel division to the Johnstown area. Some People Upset Dr. George Katter, a 1941 graduate of Notre Dame, Pasquerilla's physician and close friend, says: "There was a hell of a lot of flak over the (Notre Dame) gift. People said he made his money here, so why not give the money to Johnstown or some local -university.

Well, the fact is he did not make his money here. He makes his money elsewhere but keeps his headquarters here. And some of these crazy people have done nothing for him but restrict his expansion plans for Crown in Johnstown. "He is the most brilliant financial mind in Johnstown, and is on every major committee for development. Anybody who has a problem in local government comes to Frank, and he is too nice to kick them out.

He single-handedly brought in the Metropolitan office and the ABEX company. If it were not for this guy, the town would be dead. There is no way to describe what he has done for this He is a very private person and wanted his gift to Notre Dame to be anonymous, but Father (Theodore) Hesburgh (president of the university) convinced him disclosure would be helpful in attracting other donors." Attorney Andrew J. Gleason, a civic leader, long-time power in Republican politics and a former Crown official, agrees Pasquerilla "was probably more instrumental than anyone else in bringing in Metropolitan," as well as doing considerable to bring in ABEX and other new industry. "In this community he is certainly looked upon as probably the outstanding community leader as far as developing industrially and commercially." Adds Gleason: "He made the old post office building into one of the finest buildings in the county because he didn't want to see the center city decay.

He put three to four times its original cost into renovations. He saw the town needed a hotel, and after several developers rejected the plan, he built one himself." Now Pasquerilla has plans on the drawing board to expand his downtown Sheraton motor inn to include large meeting rooms for conventions. Katter was shocked at the size of Pasquerilla's gift to Notre Dame. "I always knew he loved the school, was pleased with its approach to education and its graduates. I thought it would be $100,000." Gleason was "also surprised by the magnitude of the gift.

I knew he had deep regard for Notre Dame and the way in which it develops leadership qualities in its people. He has been most active in many charitable affairs no one knows anything about. He has given a lot to St. Francis College (in Loretto)." By Carl Apone WHEN IT WAS announced that an anonymous donor had given the University of Notre Dame $7 million, some Pittsburgh alumni jokingly claimed they had made the gift. The money was given without fanfare, they said, because they did not want their wives to know.

Last December, Notre Dame officials convinced the anonymous donor to come forth in hope his example might be an inspiration to others. To the great surprise of even his closest friends, Notre Dame's $7-million man was Frank J. Pasquerilla, "Mr. Johnstown," a civic leader who had never gone to college. The son of an Italian immigrant coal miner who toiled in the Johnstown mines until disabled by black lung disease, Pasquerilla started to learn about business at age 12 when he sold newspapers.

He learned his lessons well. Today he is president and chairman of Crown American which owns 16 shopping malls, 24 shopping centers, seven motor inns, 21 department stores, ranks 13th among the nation's shopping-center development firms, and employs 5,000 people in five states. Headquarters for his operation is the old Johnstown post office where as a skinny kid with a full head of dark hair, Pasquerilla once peddled papers for two cents in the Cambria County community. Now at age 54, nearly bald, his walk halting as a result of a long, recent illness, but with his fine sense of humor intact, Pasquerilla breaks into laughter when reminded his case is not too much different from that of entertainer Liber-ace. The fabulously rich pianist used to remind his listeners that he "laughed all the way to the bank." Now he tells them: "You know that bank I laughed all the way to? I bought it." In like manner Pasquerilla can now tell his Hudson Street grade-school and Johnstown High School classmates that he bought the building where he once sold newspapers.

Although Pasquerilla has done wonders for his hometown, there were strong undercurrents of resentment when he gave the generous gift to.