Creativity and fun defined Nick Mitchell, whether it was making up games to play with his older sister or founding new companies.
"One time we were supposed to clean up after Sunday dinner and instead, Nick said, 'Why don't we just shove these plates of spaghetti into each other's faces like The Three Stooges,' " said Millie Caridis of Upper St. Clair.
And they did.
Nicholas C. Mitchell of Pine died on Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009. He was 79.
"He started a number of businesses, not all of them successful," Warren Renner of Ross said about his friend. "He was always trying to move forward for his wife and family."
He was born July 27, 1930, in McKees Rocks.
Mr. Mitchell began helping out in his family's McKees Rocks bar when he was 12, said his son, George Mitchell of Mars. He ultimately put himself through the University of Pittsburgh through that work, his son said.
Later, Mr. Mitchell served in the Korean War as a member of the Army.
He made his mark by being "a true entrepreneur," said George Mitchell, who is president of the Evans City-based Fibercon International, Inc., the most recent company his father developed.
Mr. Mitchell acquired the company from U.S. Steel in the mid-1990s, said Renner, a former U.S. Steel executive.
"Dad bought it after it had been shut down for two years," George Mitchell said of the steel-fiber reinforcement business. "It had no sales and no customers."
Today, it is a multinational corporation with affiliates and customers in Beijing and London, George Mitchell and Renner said.
But the dynamism Mr. Mitchell used to begin businesses — like a security limousine service that would protect celebrities from being kidnapped — served to make those he loved smile, said George Mitchell.
During a 1970 steel strike, his dad packed up the whole family into the station wagon and took them on a cross-country trip that lasted more than a month, George Mitchell said. "We went to California, Cheyenne, St. Louis and Las Vegas," he said. "We got to stay for three or four days at the Deuce Casino, which is now the site of the Bellagio Hotel, and had two rooms and all our meals comped (because of one of Nick Mitchell's friends)."
After his retirement, Mr. Mitchell enjoyed the game of golf with his now-deceased wife, Grace. He was a member of several country clubs and Downtown's Duquesne Club. He was an active member of St. Christopher Episcopal Church in Warrendale.
Besides his wife, Mr. Mitchell was preceded in death by his brother, Gus. In addition to George Mitchell, Mr. Mitchell is survived by children Dennis W. of Florida, Nicholas C. of Gibsonia, Max H. of Connecticut, and Grace Lynne Mitchell of Florida. Mr. Mitchell had nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. In addition to Caridis, he is survived by sisters Athena Malanos of Mt. Lebanon and Helen Kontis of Ft. Lauderdale.
A funeral service is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. today with the Rev. Christopher Barker presiding in H.P. Brandt Funeral Home Inc., 1032 Perry Highway, in Ross. Interment will follow at Allegheny County Memorial Park in McCandless.
