by Christian Morrow

Courier Staff Writer

When Gary Lancaster was named chief justice of the U.S. Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania in 2009, he was the only African-American on the district court bench.  At the time he joked that the title didn’t make that much difference.

“Well, be careful what you pray for,” Lancaster said. “It’s really an administrative position. So I’ll be resolving employment issues, making hiring decisions, determining the agenda for judicial meetings, overseeing the budget and representing the court at civic and bar association functions. It doesn’t reduce my caseload any, but I do get an extra law clerk.”

Lancaster died suddenly April 24 at his home in Stanton Heights. He was 63.

Paramedics were called to the house a little before 7 p.m. after his son found him unresponsive in his bedroom. Though no official cause of death has been released, indications are that he died of natural causes.

Lancaster earned his bachelor's degree from what was then Slippery Rock in 1971 and his law degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1974. He served on the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission and as an assistant district attorney in Allegheny County until 1978. After moving into private practice, President Ronald Reagan appointed him U.S. Magistrate Judge in 1987. He was appointed to the federal bench by President Clinton in 1993 and became the 25-county district's chief judge in 2009.

Lancaster was born in Brownsville. 

Lancaster was known for his no-nonsense demeanor.

Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Manning says, "Judges watch what other judges do and he was fair and decent and he treated people with respect. He was the Walter Payton of the federal bench — he was tough but he was a sweet guy."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

(More in Wednesday’s print edition of the New Pittsburgh Courier.)

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A MEETING OF THE MINDS—Addison Terrace developer Keith B. Key listens to Community Empowerment Association Founder Rashad Byrdsong’s thoughts on Black contractor inclusion.

When the Addison Terrace Public Housing Project was dedicated in 1940, President Franklin Roosevelt was there to commemorate it as Pittsburgh’s first public housing community.
Though none of the speakers at the April 22 groundbreaking for the $28-million first phase of the community’s redevelopment were there 73 years ago, many had a history with Addison.
Pittsburgh Housing Authority Chief Community Affairs Officer Michelle Jackson, who served as mistress of ceremonies for the groundbreaking, said her PhD stood for Pittsburgh’s Hill District and told of sneaking over to Addison to visit her boyfriend. Those she introduced conveyed similar remembrances as they praised the project. Keith B. Key, the developer for the joint Housing Authority and Urban Redevelopment Authority project, grew up in the Hill.
“I was born and raised over on Summers Drive, and there are probably only about 10 of us left,” he said. “I’m pleased to be a part of this. A lot of good will comes from this.”
City Councilman and housing authority Board Chair Rev. Ricky Burgess called the project visionary and was pleased to see it is being done on a grand scale. The first phase will provide 186 units of market rate and subsidized housing. Another 206 units will go up in phase two, and the third phase comprised of 140 units will go off-site and connect the hilltop community to Centre Avenue. The projected budget for the entire redevelopment is $160 million.

“Though Keith is a master at building buildings, this is about building lives. We are going to transform this community,” Burgess said. “Now I grew up in Homewood, but my ‘summer vacation’ was to spend two weeks here in Addison with my aunt. I even dated a girl from Elmore Square, and I can tell you from experience—good things come from the Hill.”
City Councilman and URA board member R. Daniel Lavelle, whose family has been an institution in the Hill for three generations, also praised the project for the way it compliments developments like the SHOP ‘n SAVE.
“It’s a little chilly today, but the sun is shining and it’s a great day in the Hill because we are going to reconnect this community to Centre Avenue,” he said. “This is a shining example of what can happen when you invest in people.”
Howard Slaughter, policy committee chair for the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency, said he was pleased the agency could provide $28 million in tax credits for the first phase of the project, and joked that while he only visited the Hill while growing up, he did have a PhD.
Both County Executive Rich Fitzgerald and housing authority Executive Director Caster D. Binion lauded the project for how it will contribute jobs to the Hill District.
As to that, Key said he was scheduled to meet later in the day with representatives from the city’s Equal Opportunity Review Commission and the African American Chamber of Commerce about minority contracting participation.
“We’ll have another meeting with contractors the week of May 13 and bids will go out the following week,” he said. “Also we’re going to have someone counting the number of minority workers actually on site every day, and we’ll publish a monthly news letter on the project that will include those numbers because hiring minority contractors is great, but not if they don’t use minority workers.”
Community Empowerment Association Founder and contractor Rashad Byrdsong said this project will help employ Blacks across the city.
“The difference between this and projects like Bakery Square 2 is that here you have the developer, the general contractor, the politicians and the community groups working together from the beginning,” he said. “That’s what you need.”
If all goes as scheduled, Key said the first residents will begin occupying the new units in the fall of 2014.
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MONROEVILLE, Pa. (AP) — Local and federal law enforcement officials are continuing to investigate after 46 pounds of cocaine worth about $10.5 million was seized and three men were arrested in searches that began with surveillance of a suburban Pittsburgh hotel.