Petersens a philantrhopic force on Pitt’s campus, community

A 12-year-old boy used to wake up at 5 a.m., when dew still coated the grass and night… A 12-year-old boy used to wake up at 5 a.m., when dew still coated the grass and night crawlers slithered by the dozens. He’d catch the worm-like insects and wander over to the docks where he’d sell them to fishermen like his father.

But his days of selling night crawlers are long gone.

Now he spends some of his time donating money to various organizations, some of which even bear his name — John M. Petersen.

His strong work ethic as a child would help explain his drive to succeed.

“Yes, I’m a workaholic,” he said, smiling.

This would help explain his ability to contribute money to the Petersen Events Center, the Gertrude E. and John M. Petersen Institute of NanoScience and Engineering, Schenley Plaza and other projects.

The Petersens were in Pittsburgh two weeks ago for the opening of the Institute.

John paused and placed his hands together as he described the event as nothing short of overwhelming.

But as he sat on the bed in his Wyndham Garden hotel room, something about him counteracted the aggressive, workaholic stereotype.

Maybe it was the kind eyes behind his black-wired glasses, or the way he helped his wife, Gertrude, sit down since she had lost her sight. Or maybe it was the fact that he gave up his own chair, just so his visitors would be more comfortable.

The couple politely sat side by side on their hotel-room bed, he in his white collared shirt and pale yellow sweater, and she in her yellow turtleneck underneath a blue button-down vest. Her diamond earrings perfectly accented her grayish hair that fell a few inches above her shoulders.

John turned to his wife to remember exactly how they met. Gertrude was the only woman he had ever dated, and they were introduced in high school by a mutual friend.

“He went to one school and I went to another,” she said. “It was just getting together at football games. And then he started walking me home.”

Now they’ve been married for 56 years.

Gertrude spoke with a warm, gentle voice, a trait she probably gained through years of patience and hard work as a homemaker.

She had never seen a basketball game until Pitt played Duquesne in the first game at the Petersen Events Center. Although she has lost her sight since then, it hasn’t stopped her from attending Pitt’s sporting events.

“The only problem now is we go to [the games] at home, so Pitt wears their blue-and-gold uniforms and I can’t see them,” she smiled, letting a soft laugh escape.

But the Petersens sometimes get to experience basketball games not as fans, but as coaches.

They occasionally guest coach the Pitt women’s basketball team with friend and Pitt Board of Trustees member Tom Bigley and his wife, Joan.

“Agnus is a woman you don’t say no to,” John joked, adding how proud he is of Pitt’s athletic team staff, including Pitt women’s basketball head coach Agnus Berenato.

“‘Suzie, you messed up,’ but she’d say it stronger than that,” he laughed. “And then you high five, standing on your tiptoes.”

Berenato laughed as she recalled a few instances when John would call her from home during a regular game that she coached. By the end of the game, she’d have two or three messages.

“He’d say, ‘Coach, this is John Petersen. You know it’s halftime, and the girls are only giving 60 percent, we really need to step it up,'” she said in a phone interview, her voice getting deeper as she improvised her John Petersen impression.

“And then he’d call to congratulate us on the win. He’d list every statistic,” her voice raised, like she was smiling on the other end of the line.

Chancellor Mark Nordenberg met the Petersens at a Pitt football game more than a decade ago during his first year as chancellor.

“The action on the field that night wasn’t bringing many smiles to the faces of loyal Pitt fans,” Nordenberg joked, adding that he was fortunate enough to sit next to John and Gertrude at the stadium.

“We had a chance to connect for the first time and really enjoyed their company,” he said. “They are two of the most friendly, unassuming, down-to-earth people that I know. There is nothing pretentious about the way in which they represent themselves or approach other people.”

Although John and Gertrude are very active in the Pitt community, their stay in Pittsburgh on this particular weekend was quite rare, because they spend about seven months out of the year in Naples, Fla.

“It’s very comfortable,” John said of their home down south. “There’s a pond behind the house, so we get to see water birds.”

Sometimes their grown children, John, Joan and Patricia, and seven grandchildren visit.

Bigley said that when he and his wife visit the Petersens in Florida, they play Greed, a dice game they picked up years ago.

“We played in the dining room [of the hotel] last night, which I don’t think was greatly appreciated,” John joked, turning to his wife, who was nodding her head and laughing.

But when John isn’t playing Greed with his wife and friends or researching on his computer at his Erie, Pa., and Florida homes late into the night, he plays golf, an activity he didn’t take up until much later in his life.

John teamed with friend Jim Duratz, also a generous Pitt donor, against Bigley and Pitt athletic director Jeff Long. Out of the three matches in Pittsburgh, Erie and Meadville, John and Duratz won every time.

And competitive John didn’t let them live it down.

“They like to kid around and needle ya,” Bigley laughed. “After each one of these matches, they would call our wives to tell them that they were getting beat by two older gentlemen.”

John’s co-worker and friend Douglas Ziegler was certain that John had a competitive edge and unbelievable work ethic throughout his life that pushed people farther than they thought they could go.

Now the chief investment officer and treasurer of Erie Insurance Group, Ziegler met John in 1984 when he ran the trust department at Penn Bank. The Insurance Group was one of the bank’s biggest clients, and Ziegler chose to work with John.

“‘Doug, I don’t like bankers, but I like you. Why don’t you get a real job?'” Ziegler laughed as he said how John used to joke with him.

“He’s an incredible motivator,” Ziegler said. “He was tough, but he was also fair. And it was only because if he was in your position, he would do the work at a level and service that he wanted. And he would expect the same out of you.”

An All-American swimmer and member of the water polo team in high school, John was drafted into the army. He eventually enrolled in Gannon College, then transferred to Pitt soon after, but in his second year, he discovered his Gannon credits would not transfer.

Eager to graduate on time, he took 20 credits during each of his last three semesters at Pitt, giving up his fraternity, Pi Kappa Alpha, and swimming, after he had been on the team for a year.

He graduated in 1951, after attending the University for just five semesters, with a bachelor’s in business administration.

John worked from 6 a.m. to 12 a.m. from the time he worked at the Erie Insurance Group in the tax department to the time he retired as the chief executive officer in 1995.

He took the company from $17 million to $10 billion in assets by the time he retired.

His co-workers there called him the Warren Buffet of the group, because “anybody who knows investment knows Warren Buffet was the most famous investment guy,” Ziegler laughed.

But John’s success at the Insurance Group and in investing his money was not just part of his living and smart saving techniques — they were his passion.

“No matter how good your job is, you don’t get it from wages,” he nodded his head as he spoke. “You get it from taking risks, saving.”

John took a sip of his water, cleared his throat and smiled.