No matter what happens to the Penguins — even if they leave for a new hometown — team owner Mario Lemieux said Tuesday he will remain a Pittsburgher long after ending his playing days. “I intend to stay here a long time, no matter what happens in the future,” Lemieux, 40, told a throng of reporters gathered at the Mellon Arena to hear him announce his retirement. “I’ll always be a Pittsburgher. … My heart is always going to be here.” Lemieux also said his retirement should have no impact on the team’s bid for a new arena. It has partnered with Isle of Capri Casinos in Biloxi, Miss., which has pledged to give the Penguins $290 million for a new arena if it wins the license for Pittsburgh’s slots parlor. From the moment he joined the Penguins in 1984, Lemieux has been seen as the savior for a National Hockey League franchise that appeared destined to relocate. More than two decades later, that’s still the case. Even though he has put the team up for sale, Lemieux said he remains committed to keeping the Penguins in Pittsburgh — with a new arena. “I’ve always been committed to Pittsburgh, and that hasn’t changed,” he said. For as much as Lemieux has done to preserve the team and lead it to two Stanley Cup championships, his legacy might be just as strong for what he has done in the community, said Pam Schanwald, CEO of the Children’s Home of Pittsburgh. In September, The Mario Lemieux Foundation gave $2 million toward a new building for the Children’s Home in Friendship. The center, which is scheduled to open next year, will have an Austin’s Playroom for the siblings of children receiving care. “Obviously, he’s very passionate about Pittsburgh and the region, and giving back and recognizing that there are families that are in need and that need his support,” Schanwald said. Much of Lemieux’s off-ice contributions to Pittsburgh have been born out of personal crises. He and his wife, Nathalie, learned about the Children’s Home after their son, Austin, was born 3 1/2 months prematurely. Austin spent 71 days in the hospital and developed healthily without spending time at the home. The Lemieux Foundation itself resulted from Lemieux’s battle with Hodgkin’s disease in 1993. The annual Mellon Mario Lemieux Celebrity Invitational has raised nearly $10 million that the foundation has turned over to local organizations. For every project for which Lemieux receives credit, there probably are another 25 to 50 things he has quietly done without any attention, said Tom Grealish, president and executive director of The Mario Lemieux Foundation. “They’ve taken events in their lives, and what they’ve done is put themselves into very real situations others have to deal with,” Grealish said. “People really don’t know how many times Mario has picked up the phone and called people just diagnosed with cancer. He does all of this without any fanfare.” The foundation has benefited the Mario Lemieux Centers for Patient Care and Research for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Hodgkin’s disease and pediatric leukemia research at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, the Austin Lemieux Neonatal Project at Magee-Women’s Hospital and early stage research at the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine. “Mario has done everything humanly possible for this community, and it’s entirely up to Mario what he wants to do from now on,” said Penguins CEO Ken Sawyer. “I don’t know of any other athlete who’s raised this much money for charitable or medical research in his hometown.” Lemieux and his wife live in Sewickley with their four children, Lauren, Stephanie, Austin and Alexa. The couple met in Montreal when he was 16 and she was 15. They married in 1993. Lemieux’s family accepted an extra member this season – rookie phenomenon Sidney Crosby, who moved in with them after being drafted by the Penguins last summer. Now he’s seen as the future of the franchise. Lemieux said he let Crosby know about his retirement plans at breakfast yesterday. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to do the job he did,” Crosby said, “but if I can even come close to that I think I’ll be all right.” In a rare news conference four years ago, Nathalie Lemieux was asked if it’s difficult to go out in public with her family, given the fact that her husband is perhaps the most famous athlete in the city’s history. “It’s great,” she said then. “Living in Sewickley, it’s such a small, little town that people leave you alone. It’s fine. We always go back to the same restaurants, and we get to know the owners, and they put you in a corner, and everybody leaves you alone.” For everything Lemieux has given Pittsburgh, Sawyer said the city with its small-town, family-oriented atmosphere has been a perfect fit for Lemieux, too. “He’s just a tremendous person and a family man,” Sawyer said. “This is a city that’s built on families, so this city works very well for Mario.”

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