PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Those four Super Bowls that Dwight White won with the Steelers?
They're chopped liver compared to the life White led after football -- which goes well beyond doting on daughter Stacey, the apple of his eye.
"His performance in the office was as great as it was on the field," Larry Morris of Mesirow Financial said Wednesday at White's funeral service.
A financial wizard with a booming voice and gentle touch, White had a golden touch for making money.
He was a partner, board member and principal operator of the Pittsburgh office of W.R. Lazard and Company. He also worked for the investment firm Bache-Haley and was president of the investment firm Daniels & Bell, the first black-owned company to purchase a seat on the New York Stock Exchange.
White -- who died Friday following complications from back surgery a month shy of his 59th birthday -- had so much more to live for. But he crammed a lot of life into the time he had.
An athlete ahead of his time, White fully understood where his Steelers career ended and the rest of his life began.
John Heller/Post-Gazette
Joseph Burchick, president of Master Builders Association of Western Pennsylvania, and Dwight White attending a 2006 fundraiser for 400 hosted by the law firm Meyer, Unkovic & Scott. The affair was a benefit for Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh, a nonprofit organization that helps low-income elderly and disabled homeowners with home maintenance issues.
Football never confined or defined White, because he wouldn't allow it.
White immersed himself in charities and was a member of the board of trustees for Seton Hill University and the Blind and Vision Rehabilitation Services of Pittsburgh. He and wife Karen -- a power couple if ever there was one -- were co-chairs of a $35.9 million capital campaign that has raised more than $28 million for the construction of the new August Wilson Center for African American Culture.
"It can never be said he didn't give back to the community," said the Rev. Harold T. Lewis, who presided over the service at Calvary Episcopal Church in Shadyside.
White had recently been elected as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention for presidential hopeful Barack Obama. A letter from Obama was read at the funeral.
While celebrating White's life with hundreds of others yesterday, Gov. Ed Rendell recalled how persistent White was as a fund-raiser.
"If he wanted to accomplish something, he would never give up. Dwight was relentless," Rendell said of White, who served as chairman of the Governor's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.
Robin Rombach/Post-Gazette
Dwight White signs teacher Marlene Berncic's sweatshirt during a visit to Pace School in Churchill. The school held a ceremony to thank the former Steeler for his support of the institution.
Recalling White's request for state funds to build the August Wilson Center in downtown Pittsburgh, Rendell said, "He was asking for a significant amount of money. After four or five discussions, I decided it was just better to give it to him."
Approximately $7 million -- one-fourth of the money raised -- is from state funding.
Much of that is White's doing.
To those who knew him, loved him and now mourn him, White was only doing what came naturally.
John Harris is a sports writer for the Tribune-Review. He can be reached at jharris@tribweb.com or 412-481-5432
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