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Proclamation honoring in memoriam the Honorable Sophie Masloff, the first woman Mayor of the City of Pittsburgh.
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WHEREAS, the beloved grandmother of Pittsburgh, Mrs. Sophie Friedman Masloff, was born on December 23, 1917 and grew up on Roberts Street in the lower Hill District, the daughter of poor Romanian-Jewish immigrants, Louis and Jennie Friedman; and
WHEREAS, Mrs. Masloff graduated from Fifth Avenue High School in 1934 and she began working for Allegheny County in 1936. After holding various positions in the county, in 1951, she took a position as a clerk in the jury assignment room for the Court of Common Pleas, until she was elected to serve as a member of Pittsburgh City Council in 1976; and
WHEREAS, in January 1988, Mrs. Masloff became the city’s first female council president, and when Pittsburgh mayor Richard Caliguiri died in office on May 6, 1988, the city charter dictated that the city council president was next in line to assume the office of mayor. Mrs. Masloff was sworn into office as the Mayor of Pittsburgh and became the first woman and the first Jewish person to hold the office; and
WHEREAS, Mayor Masloff served out the remainder of Mr. Caliguiri’s term and was reelected in November 1989. Her administration was forced to deal with urban decay, a shrinking industrial sector and crumbling infrastructure. She made fiscal responsibility the centerpiece of her term in office and she privatized numerous costly city assets including the Pittsburgh Zoo, the National Aviary, Phipps Conservatory, and the Schenley Park Golf Course; and
WHEREAS, Mayor Masloff was the first public figure to suggest that the city’s baseball and football teams each have their own stadiums. She was instrumental in securing passage of legislation creating the Allegheny Regional Asset District and increasing the local sales tax to fund parks, libraries, stadiums, and cultural attractions. Her vision was eventually implemented years after she left office w...
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