Tuesday, September 5, 2006

Bob O'ConnorPittsburgh Mayor

Bob O'Connor, 61, the sitting mayor of Pittsburgh, died Sept. 1 at a Pittsburgh hospital of cancer of the central nervous system.

Mr. O'Connor, a Democrat, became mayor in January after his third run for the office. He worked at the Pappan/Roy Rogers restaurant chain for 20 years before entering politics in 1992. He worked for Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell and later was president of the Pittsburgh City Council.

During his short time as mayor of the city of about 300,000, Mr. O'Connor spearheaded efforts to promote downtown development and clean up the city. He pledged to restore Pittsburgh's financial stability after succeeding Tom Murphy, whose 12-year tenure saw the city sink to near bankruptcy.

Mr. O'Connor was initially admitted to the hospital after complaining of flulike symptoms. Doctors diagnosed an ulcer, and he was released several days later. But subsequent tests revealed that he had a rare form of primary central nervous system lymphoma.

Council President Luke Ravenstahl, 26, was sworn in as mayor Friday night, becoming the youngest mayor in the city's history.

Bill Stumpf, 70, an industrial designer who was a pioneer in ergonomic seating and co-created the iconic Aeron office chair for Herman Miller Inc., died Aug. 30 of complications stemming from abdominal surgery, the company announced. He lived in Stockholm, Wis.

Mr. Stumpf created the Ergon chair, the first modern ergonomic work chair, in 1976, and in 1990, Time magazine named his Equa chair the best design of the decade. In 1994, he collaborated with another industrial designer, Don Chadwick, to invent the Aeron chair, an innovative and striking piece of furniture that quickly became part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

The chair, which is still sold around the world, features a high and wide contoured mesh back, soft and adjustable arm rests and a mesh seat with a sloping front edge.

This summer, Mr. Stumpf won the 2006 National Design Award for product design. It will be presented posthumously Oct. 18 by the Smithsonian Institution's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York. He was a finalist for the award in 2005.