Board of Trustees chair, former Pa. Chief Justice honored

University and government officials, friends and family gathered yesterday to remember a former… University and government officials, friends and family gathered yesterday to remember a former state chief justice and chair of Pitt’s Board of Trustees.

Ralph Cappy, a 65-year-old Pitt alumnus, died in his home Friday of coronary artery disease.

“I thought that I was talking to myself, except a little bit smarter, a little bit higher energy,” Gov. Ed Rendell said about Cappy at the Heinz Chapel service.

Rendell became governor the same year Cappy became the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s chief justice. The state government needed to tackle a plethora of issues: medical malpractice and education, among others.

The governor told Cappy he wanted to complete one project on their list within 12 months.

“We can do it in six,” Cappy said.

The project was done in four months.

“The one memory I will take with me of Ralph is how he relished taking on those challenges. How, if it was a great idea, he wanted to take it and run with it,” Rendell said.

Chancellor Mark Nordenberg, Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato and current state Supreme Court Justice Ronald Castille, Cappy’s successor, also attended the ceremony.

“Ralph’s record on the court was one for which he could be justifiably proud,” Castille said.

“Ralph Cappy was a powerful force for good in his personal and professional lives,” Nordenberg said in a news release. “In Pittsburgh, in Pennsylvania and in far more distant places, his passing will be mourned and he will be sorely missed.”

Cappy served as a judge for 30 years, from 1978 to 2008. He began his career working in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, where he served in the family, criminal and civil divisions. He was appointed to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 1990 and became its chief justice in 2003. He retired in 2008 and joined the law firm Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, PC.

Cappy also served on Pitt’s Board of Trustees for 17 years. He was unanimously elected chair in 2003 and held that position until his death.

Cappy’s resume was extensive, but that wasn’t what drew people to him, speakers at his memorial service said.

Cappy joined the court at a controversial time. It was amid the impeachment of former Justice Rolf Larsen.

Castille said it was Cappy’s “prodigious organizational skills and ability to draw consensus amongst his colleagues” that allowed him to deal with the impeachment and to successfully push for reforms in the medical insurance industry and to end ethnic and gender bias.

Cappy earned numerous awards for his work, including the Harry L. Carrico Professionalism Award — the organization’s highest honor, given by the National Center for State Courts and the Philadelphia Bar Medal. Cappy was one of only nine people to receive the Bar Medal of the Pennsylvania Bar Association in the group’s 114-year history.

During his free time, Cappy liked to play golf and squash. He would often ride motorcycles throughout the country with his friends.

Richard Zappala, former chair of The First City Company, used to ride motorcycles with Cappy. He said the man’s zeal for life was infectious.

“No matter how long you or I knew Ralph, you could never get enough of him,” he said.

Zappala recalled the first time he met Cappy, 33 years ago. Zappala was dating his wife at the time and she wanted to go on a double date with one of her friends and her boyfriend, who happened to be Cappy.

Zappala said he didn’t like Cappy. He was too nice, seemed a little too interested in what people said and just seemed like a “phony” politician.

“I found out very quickly that that really was Ralphy. He was too nice, he was too genuine, but that was Ralphy,” Zappala said.

Gary Gentile, another of Cappy’s friends and co-workers, said he appreciated that Cappy, a Brookline native, never forgot his hometown.

Gentile said he has seen many people rise through the ranks of their chosen careers and then forget their friends. But never Cappy, he said.

“Ralph Cappy never reinvented himself — never had to,” Gentile said. “He put a friendly face on power and he gave ‘big shots’ a good name.”