Pitt mourns deaths of two notable former trustees: Paul O’Neill and Steven Beering

Two former University of Pittsburgh trustees — Paul O’Neill and Steven Beering — died earlier this month after long and distinguished careers.

Paul O’Neill

Paul O'NeillThe former U.S. secretary of the treasury died April 18 of complications from lung cancer at his Shadyside home. He was 84.

He led Pittsburgh-based Alcoa Corp. for 13 years from 1987-2000 and was treasury secretary under George W. Bush from 2001-02. He had previously worked for the federal government during the Johnson, Nixon and Ford administrations as a computer systems analyst and as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget.

O’Neill was a Pitt trustee from 1988 to 1991 and a UPMC trustee from 2003 to 2004.

Read a full obituary in the Post-Gazette.

Steven Beering

Steven BeeringThe retired Purdue University president died April 3 at 87 of heart problems in Carmel, Ind.

Beering grew up in Pittsburgh after his family emigrated from Germany in 1948 to join his grandparents in Squirrel Hill. He went on to earn his undergraduate and medical degrees from Pitt in the 1950s. From there, he became a professor at the Indiana University School of Medicine, eventually rising to dean, and in 1983, he was named president of Purdue.

After Beering retired from Purdue in 2000, Pitt Chancellor Mark Nordenberg convinced him to serve on the University’s Board of Trustees, where he was chairman of the Health Sciences Committee and the Board of Visitors for the School of Medicine.

In 1998, he was Pitt's commencement speaker, receiving the honorary Doctor of Science degree at the ceremony. He also was named a Pitt Legacy Laureate in 2002 and a Distinguished Alumni Fellow in 1996.

Read a full obituary in the Post-Gazette.