Don Berman

1925 - 2023

Don Berman passed away at home Friday, Feb. 3, 2023. Don was born April 15, 1925, in Pittsburgh, to Joseph and Anna Berman. Don graduated from Westinghouse High School in 1941 and enrolled in the Carnegie Institute of Technology (CIT). His education was interrupted in 1944 when he was drafted into service in the United States Army. He spent approximately two years in the armed forces and returned to CIT, where he earned both a bachelor's and a master's degree in metallurgy. Prior to entering the service, Don met Helen Lebowitz, who had enrolled in the University of Pittsburgh. That first meeting occurred in 1942 at the Young Men and Women's Hebrew Association (YMHA) building in Oakland. After both Don and Helen obtained their bachelor's degrees in 1947, they were married at the Old Fort Pitt Hotel. After spending three years with Standard Steel Spring, Don changed the course of his career when he accepted a job as a draftsman at Green Engineering Company in Sewickley. He soon became a fixture at Green, where he rose to the position of chief draftsman. Major projects completed under his guidance were the towers on the Verazzano Bridge in New York and the Jefferson Memorial Arch in St. Louis. During this time, he studied for and earned his professional engineer's license as a structural engineer. Don was placed in charge of the team that designed the public facilities (streets, street lighting, sidewalks, sewers and water lines for the Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh's East Liberty urban renewal project. Shortly thereafter, he took over as manager of the Municipal Division at Green and was responsible for all municipal contracts which included planning for and designing of municipal streets, sewage collection and treatment systems, water treatment and distribution systems and solid waste management plans. This is when his passion for environmental engineering began. His environmental division at Green completed a county wide sewage facilities plan and began preparation for a county wide water facilities plan. In the late 1960s, many municipalities in Allegheny County were experiencing a huge increase in their solid waste management costs and requested that the county prepare a solid waste management plan aimed at addressing that situation. Green received the contract for that project and under Don's leadership, his staff developed a plan which envisioned the establishment of a Division of Waste Management to implement a plan calling for county owned landfills and transfer stations. He was asked and agreed to join the county staff to fill the position of division head. Don's first accomplishment was the siting and construction of the North Hills Transfer Station. In 1974, he was appointed director of Allegheny County's Department of Works, where his responsibilities were expanded to include construction or rehabilitation and maintenance of the county's 400 bridges and 400 miles of roads. In 1977, after a change in leadership at the county, Don decided to return to the private sector and rejoined the green staff where he led the effort to complete federally and state mandated water quality plans for 20 counties in the western third of Pennsylvania. When Allegheny County was mandated to develop recycling plans for all municipalities with a population of over 5,000 residents, Don led the effort to complete that plan which included an educational element for grades 1 through 12. That educational element won a national award. Again, as a result of his work, in 1989, Don was asked to rejoin the county staff to implement both the waste disposal efforts and the recycling efforts recommended in the plan. Until his retirement in 1997, he continued to assist local governments in their recycling efforts. He was called upon to speak in numerous forums and was a lecturer on solid waste matters at the University of Pittsburgh's Public School of Health. During his active career, Don was a member of and chaired many engineering and environmental organizations including the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Public Works Association, the Society of American Military Engineers and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. After retiring from full time employment, he offered solid waste and recycling consulting services to various counties in the Commonwealth. Don, above all, was the loving patriarch of our family (Papa Don). He also loved traveling with Helen, tennis, reading, crossword puzzles, his computer and his Pittsburgh sports teams. He is survived by Helen, his wife of 75 years, his two children, Beth and Paul (Jane), four grandchildren, Patrick (Marie), Andy (Ashley), Seth (Theresa) and Molly (Harris), and eight great-grandchildren, Faith, Aiden, Cameron, Axel, Liam, Ainsley, Benny and Raffi. His wisdom, wit and love will be greatly missed. No services are planned at this time. Donations in his memory may be made to the Sewickley Public Library, Quaker Valley Ambulance Authority or the Edgeworth Police Department. Arrangements were entrusted to the JOHN SYKA FUNERAL HOME, 833 Kennedy Drive, Ambridge, PA 15003.