The 39th Annual Art Rooney Award Dinner & Auction was held on Thursday, April 12 at the Westin Convention Center Hotel, benefitting the Catholic Youth Association of Pittsburgh.
The dinner is named in honor of Art Rooney Sr., who had a strong commitment to the Pittsburgh community and had a special place in his heart for the Catholic Youth Association.
Rooney began the dinner in 1974 to help the CYA get on stable ground, and it has remained a family tradition with his son Dan Rooney Sr. heading it over the years, and now his grandson Art Rooney II.
The event honors individuals who have made significant contributions to the Pittsburgh community, and the 2012 Art Rooney Award Winner was David Malone, President and CEO of Gateway Financial.
Malone is involved in numerous charitable endeavors including being on the Board of Trustees of United Way of Allegheny County as well as the 2012 United Way Campaign Chair with Art Rooney II. Malone is also the chairman of the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance and Youth Places, as well as working with many other local charitable foundations and educational programs.
Other awards presented at the dinner were the John McGrady Award presented to PNC's Andrea Carelli, the Bill Burns Award presented to Very Reverend Ronald P. Lengwin of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, the Bob Prince Award presented to Frank B. Fuhrer III of Fuhrer Wholesale Company, the Nick Cardello Senior Award to Anna Kozioziemski and the Nick Cardello Youth Award to Kate Pifer.
The list of past Art Rooney Award Winners include sports figures such as Jerome Bettis, Terry Bradshaw, Hines Ward, Arnold Palmer, Chuck Noll and Joe Paterno; as well as local business leaders including U.S. Steel CEO Edgar Speer, Heinz's Tony O'Reilly, PPG's Vince Sarni, Chairman of Eat'n Park Hospitality Group Jim Broadhurst, former Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato, and PNC Chairman/CEO Jim Rohr and PNC President Sy Holzer.
The CYA was founded in 1925 and is dedicated to improving the quality of life for neighborhood families by providing educational, recreational, and health care programs for children and adults, in particular the most vulnerable members of society, the very young and the elderly.
Among the services offered to the over 2,000 people they serve yearly are a summer residential camp for boys and girls ages 7-14, a pre-school program, meals on wheels, health and wellness activities for seniors as well as transportation programs for the elderly and an intergenerational program that brings seniors and pre-school children together.
"The CYA provides an awful lot of support, both for the elderly and it also has programs for the youth population," said Art Rooney II. "It's there for people who really are in need. The organization has been at it for a long time, so the people there know what they're doing. It's an organization my grandfather felt strongly enough about that he got behind this dinner many years ago and made sure he was providing support to the organization. It's great to carry on that level of support to an organization that was so important to my grandfather."
