It's not a rags-to-riches tale. It's not the story of a man born to a life of philanthropy, a life consumed with the desire to help others.
But both of those things have played a part in the evolution of Frank B. Fuhrer Jr. -- businessman, father and grandfather, philanthropist, card-carrying member of the Notre Dame Subway Alumni (people who have adopted Notre Dame as their school even though they're not an alum), passionate golfer and, yes, a man dedicated to helping those less fortunate.
"I think Frank, in a lot of ways, is like (late Ohio State football coach) Woody Hayes," said Lou Holtz, famed former Notre Dame coach and longtime friend of Fuhrer's. "He appears to be tough, demanding, straight down the line. In reality, he's just one of the biggest-hearted, most generous people I've ever known."
Fuhrer, 80, grew up in East Brady, a small town about 60 miles north of Pittsburgh in Clarion County. It was an ordinary childhood, typical of many who grew up in the 1930s and '40s. An athletic youngster, Fuhrer competed in many sports in high school. He went on to star in football, basketball, baseball, golf and soccer at Allegheny College, earning 11 varsity letters while getting a bachelor of science degree.
He added a master's degree from the Katz School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh in 1951. While he didn't pursue a traditional Ph.D., his work toward a doctorate in business -- and life -- began a few short years later.
"I was 30 years old in 1956 when my dad died," Fuhrer said. "I'll never forget it -- Feb. 9. He had that little clothing store in East Brady, and that's all my mother had, that and her home. So I left the insurance business I was in with my brother (Richard) in Pittsburgh, moved back up to East Brady, so we could figure out how we were going to get rid of the store."
As it turned out, selling Fuhrer Clothing Store was easier said than done. Nobody wanted it. The only offer was $5,000 for a store filled with $30,000 in inventory.
"Obviously, you weren't going to sell it for that," he said.
Fuhrer then made what he now considers a bad decision. He decided to keep the store.
"I bought it from my mother, and, to make matters worse, I bought the building which my dad had rented all those years," Fuhrer said. "I cut a hole in the center of (the building) and put a little department store in it and added women's and children's clothes. I spent a hell of a lot of money I didn't have."
Almost a quarter-million dollars, to be exact.
The next eight years were a learning experience. The journey helped shape the man who would become a major player in the Pittsburgh business world.
In 1964, Fuhrer finally was able to secure a buyer for the store.
A return to Pittsburgh in 1965 with his first wife, Mary Helen, and four children reunited Fuhrer with his brother and the insurance business. He knew making a decent living was possible with Central Life of Iowa.
"But I had that entrepreneurial spirit. I wasn't satisfied," he said. "Whether it was good or bad, I wanted to get rich. I wanted to do things for my family, my kids, for people I didn't know. But I knew I had to have more money to do that."
In his quest to find a "niche," Fuhrer stumbled upon credit insurance, which was relatively new to the Pittsburgh area.
He took a chance.
He was given the choice of taking a straight 10 percent commission on his sales or a guaranteed salary (around $50,000) and a 5 percent commission.
"I knew I could live with the second option, but for what I wanted to accomplish, I knew I had to do the first one," Fuhrer said.
Fuhrer's wife wanted to know whether he'd taken leave of his senses. They had four kids and $8,000 in the bank.
Fuhrer was determined. He knew that if he really got going and had $10 million in sales, he could make $1 million in commissions. With the salary option, he would make $550,000.
"The bottom line is we're either going to make it big or we're going to totally fail. I don't want to stay this way," he told his wife at the time. "We'll make a good living, but we're never going to get rich. Maybe I'm crazy, but I've always wanted to be rich. The reason most people don't make a lot of money is because they are afraid to fail. In my opinion, you can't win big until you're not afraid to lose."
The early days of Fuhrer's venture were a little slow -- four months and no clients. His $8,000 in savings disappeared, as did most of a $20,000 loan from his mother. But once he got the late Robert Cochran Sr., who started the car dealership now run by his son, to sign a contract, others followed.
"Soon, I was a millionaire," he said with a smile.
When Fuhrer sold his business in 1985, sales were at $50 million.
"That's how I got started in business," he said. "From there, with the cash flow I generated from that business, I was able to hire a lot of people, expand into other businesses."
Some did well, such as the beer wholesale business he still owns. Some, such as the Pittsburgh Triangles tennis team and Pittsburgh Spirit Indoor Soccer, did not.
"I lost some money," Fuhrer said, smiling. "But we had a lot of fun."
Eventually Fuhrer decided to divest himself of the six businesses he had and concentrate on the wholesale business
"First, it's hard to run six businesses, hard to manage them," he said. "I had had cancer, and, although it was behind me several years, I still wondered how many years I had to live, and that was a concern. And third, none of the kids were really interested in any of the other businesses. This was the one that they were interested in."
"He epitomizes the word 'businessman,' " said longtime friend Sy Holzer, president of PNC's Pittsburgh-area banking operations. "He's self-made and practices all of the fundamentals of a world-class businessman. Frank is one of those guys whose handshake means something."
"Frank's a visionary and a strategist," Holzer said. "He cares very deeply about Pittsburgh, the country and the futures of both. He's an honest and forthright individual."
It was the cancer that changed his life.
In the fall of 1982, days after Frank B. Fuhrer Wholesale was approved to be the Anheuser-Busch wholesaler, Fuhrer was told he had prostate cancer.
The disease was "out of the capsule," meaning it had advanced beyond any comfortable level. He took chemotherapy and radiation, but the disease eventually spread to his bones.
"I thought, and the doctors thought, I wasn't going to make it," said Fuhrer, who lives in Fox Chapel with his second wife, Heidi. "For whatever reason, and God is the only one who knows that, I lived and got well.
"Up until this disease hit me, I was totally 'I,' " he said. "Everything I thought about was about myself, how I could better myself. From that time on, all I thought of was not me, but how I could help other people. I kind of made a pact with God, kinda told him 'You let me live, I'll do the best I can to help other people in your honor and glory.' That may sound corny, but that's how I feel. And I've tried to do that.
"It's not the big things that are important. Anybody can do a big thing," Fuhrer said. "How I treat my kids and grandchildren, my employees, the people in life who don't have as much as I do, that's what's important."
Fuhrer often has combined his philanthropic tendencies with his love of sports.
He will return to Meadville in a couple months to take part in a ceremony that will re-name the football stadium at his alma mater, Allegheny College. Fuhrer donated $1 million for a major renovation of athletic facilities there.
"Allegheny College is my school. Sports was a big part of my experience there, a character-builder that shaped my life," he said. "The current football and track facilities are poor. It's an honor to help in some small way to get the job done and provide Allegheny's student-athletes with a first-rate stadium."
His concern for young people is the reason he's become a sponsor of the annual YMCA Scholar Athlete banquet in Pittsburgh.
"We've named one of our awards the Fuhrer Family Outstanding Performance Award, and it goes to a young athlete who overcomes adversity," said Ken Horoho, chairman of the banquet. "There have been very few people over the years who, when they get up to speak, everyone listens. Walter Payton (the late Chicago Bears running back) was one. Bill Cowher is one. And Frank Fuhrer is one, as well. That's the kind of presence he has."
In 1985, Fuhrer initiated the Family House Invitational golf tournament. It quickly became what many considered the best two-day pro-am in the country. The tournament served as primary fundraiser for Family House, a haven for patients -- and their families -- who were receiving specialized cancer treatments at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, West Penn Hospital and other hospitals in the Pittsburgh area.
In 1996, Fuhrer parted company with Family House in a disagreement about who should control of the tournament. The separation was painful, one he doesn't talk about often.
Dennis Darak, the executive director of the Tri-State Section PGA, said that Fuhrer is a visionary.
"He was the first sponsor, not only in the Tri-State, but throughout the country, to take a purse to the $100,000 level at the club professional level," Darak said, referring to the Frank B. Fuhrer Invitational, which offers a purse of $125,000. "He is a groundbreaker. He was way ahead of his time. Through his generosity, other sponsors not only have raised their purses, but they've seen the value of the relationship with the Tri-State."
Former Pirates pitcher Steve Blass worked for Fuhrer for several years as a public relations/national account representative.
"To me, Frank Fuhrer is a true sportsman," Blass said. "Not every champion wears a uniform. He's done so many things for sports and people in general, and most of those are done in a very understated way."
Bob Ford, the head golf professional at Oakmont Country Club, has built a great relationship with Fuhrer. Ford learned early in his tenure at Oakmont about Fuhrer's generosity.
"Every year, the assistants sell raffle tickets for their entry into the Tri-State Section PGA's Assistants Championship," Ford said. "The first member I saw was Mr. Fuhrer, and when I asked him if he'd buy one, he said, 'How many do you have left?' I told him that I had all of mine, because he was the first person I asked. He told me he'd take them all. And he's continued that for 30 years now."
Ford said he is continually amazed at the things Fuhrer does, big and small.
"Any time we have a pro-am or a U.S. Open, Frank always steps up to the plate and takes a swing," Ford said. "He's paid tuitions for kids to college. He's one of the most generous guys I've ever run across. He's bigger than life."
Fuhrer also is a major donor at UPMC Shadyside hospital, having funded the Frank B. Fuhrer Magnetic Resonance Wing.
But much of Fuhrer's generosity goes unnoticed -- except, of course, by those on the receiving end.
Like the time Fuhrer was leaving Mass and overheard a woman telling the priest she was celebrating a birthday. Fuhrer approached the woman, gave her a $100 bill and told her, "Have a happy birthday on me."
"Frank is very faithful," said Rev. Robert Duch, the pastor at St. Scholastica Church in Aspinwall. "He lives his faith and is very willing to reach out to other people. I would say he's a very faithful Catholic. He has said he's very grateful to God for being alive."
Fuhrer has attended morning Mass for 16 years -- home or away, every day.
"Going to Mass is part of my life now, and it makes me feel good just to go every morning," Fuhrer said. "It's just in thanksgiving to God for all he's given me, most of all my very life. I could be dead years now."
He's a quiet but big supporter of St. Scholastica.
"He helps with our school a lot," Duch said. "He's helped a number of students over the years who couldn't pay the full tuition. He's a big supporter of our golf outing each year that aids the school."
Over the years, Fuhrer has bankrolled the construction of memorials to police and firemen who have died in the line of duty.
Waiters, waitresses and caddies have experienced the kindness of this octogenarian.
"I've never felt like I was better than anybody," Fuhrer said. "We're all children of God, and that's where we're all going. We're going to be asked 'How did you treat the least of my people, not the greatest?' I try to live it. Genuinely, I try to be good to people, all people. I get more kick out of helping someone who has nothing than hobnobbing with the big people."
As a young man, Fuhrer knew he wanted to give his children everything he could, especially all the things he didn't have growing up. His hard work was performed with an eye toward the futures of his children -- Kathryn Ann, David, Mary Beth and Frank III -- and his 18 grandchildren.
According to Frank III, who has succeeded his father as chief executive officer of Frank B. Fuhrer Wholesale, his dad already has talked to three or four of the teenage grandchildren about his philosophies on life and business.
"I tell people all the time, it's like the guy who comes after Joe Paterno or Jack Nicklaus .... he's a tough act to follow. I can't even try. I'm a totally different person," the younger Fuhrer said.
Eventually, the new CEO hopes to put his own mark on the family business. Doing so will put a smile of satisfaction on the face of his father.
"The strength of my businesses has always been integrity, fairness and consistency," Fuhrer said. "It's like a three-legged stool, and if any one of those legs fail, the stool collapses. I think my employees have bought that concept. I like to think this will survive me and that will be my legacy to my businesses."
But for Frank Fuhrer, there's so much more to his legacy than his businesses.
"I think the bottom line is what did you live for⢠Did you live for something or for nothing?" Fuhrer said. "I'd like to think, at the end of the line, that I lived for something, and that there are a lot of people better off because I lived. If you can't say that, there's something wrong."
