William Rea was a role model to many of the men and women who devoted their talents to Pittsburgh's economic, educational and cultural development.
"In the more than 60 years that I've known Bill Rea, I considered him to be a champion of this great city," said industrialist Henry Hillman. "Along with Jack Heinz and the Heinz Foundation, Bill was instrumental in the revitalization of the Downtown's Cultural District, besides his commitment to the Allegheny Conference on Community Development."
Mr. Rea, of Stahlstown, Westmoreland County, former president of the Oliver Tyrone Corp., died Monday, May 15, 2006, while visiting in Washington, D.C. He was 94.
"It was because of his background as a teacher that Bill became deeply involved in all aspects of education," Hillman said. "He served as chairman of the Board of Trustees at the University of Pittsburgh and president of the board of the Pittsburgh school district, besides numerous state boards and committees of education.
"You could see that when Bill took on a project, he did it with heart. And most important, Bill had a tremendous sense of humor."
Hillman said Mr. Rea's late wife, Ingrid, was a lovely and gracious woman and an integral part of the Rea family's commitment to the city.
Samuel Rea recalled his parents' love of travel.
"When Dad met Mom while he was teaching history at the American University at Beirut, Lebanon, they agreed to visit my mother's godmother in East Africa.
"They boarded a French troop ship but were detained in the Suez Canal for several days when Mussolini's army was invading Ethiopia and the Italian troop ships had precedence.
"And despite sieges of malaria and avoiding poisonous snakes, my parents made their way back to the United States and were married."
Born and raised in Squirrel Hill, Mr. Rea was one of eight children of James Childs and Julia Dodge Rea. His father was an executive of the former Oliver Iron & Steel Co. on the South Side.
Mr. Rea graduated from Princeton University, where he majored in history. Prior to enlisting in the Navy during World War II, he was employed as a steelworker at Edgewater Steel in Oakmont.
"We eventually moved to New York City, where Dad worked for W.R. Grace Co.," Samuel Rea said. "We were stationed in Chile for a year, where Dad oversaw the shipment of tin from the mines to the United States."
After completing Officers Candidate School in 1942, Mr. Rea was assigned as a radar officer aboard the battleship Idaho, which saw action in the Pacific. "The Idaho was the admiral's flagship and targeted by the Japanese bombers," his son said.
Upon his discharge, Mr. Rea returned to Pittsburgh to work for the Oliver Estate. In 1956, he became the president of Oliver Tyrone Corp.
He continued his commitments to the metropolitan Pittsburgh area by his leadership in the Allegheny Conference, which included creating the Three Rivers Employment Service to provide minority training and employment.
Mr. Rea is survived by a son, Samuel Rea, of Stahlstown; four daughters, Ingrid Rea Warren, of Camden, Maine, Marian Haight, of Santa Fe, N.M., Julia Rea Diamond, of Lake Oswego, Maine, and Vicky Edgerly, of Winter Harbor, Maine; and eight grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Ingrid; and a daughter, Claire Rea.
Arrangements by the J. Paul McCracken Funeral Home, Ligonier, are incomplete.
