Lebder remembers Masloff as ‘good, loyal Democrat’

PITTSBURGH — News of the death of Sophie Masloff, who rose from a tax clerk to become Pittsburgh’s first female mayor, came as a shock to former longtime Fayette County Democratic Party Chairman Fred L. Lebder.
Masloff died at an area hospice at age 96, said Joseph Mistick, Masloff’s longtime friend and former top aide.
“She was my friend. Sophie was a good, loyal Democrat. When you needed anything for the Democratic Party, she was always there,” Lebder said.
Although Masloff never campaigned in Fayette County, Lebder said she was influential and well-liked among the Women Democrats Societies, and he and Masloff worked together on national races.
“She was a big supporter of Hubert Humphrey for president and I was a big supporter of Hubert Humphrey,” Lebder said of the 1968 presidential race which Humphrey narrowly lost to Richard Nixon.
Masloff took office in May 1988 after the death of Richard S. Caliguiri, and she served until January 1994.
She good-naturedly described herself as an “old Jewish grandmother” and promised when she took office to be at work by 8 a.m. every day except Tuesdays when, she said, “I get my hair done.”
Her tenure was marked by two reductions in the city wage tax, a move designed to keep residents from fleeing to the suburbs, and a complete overhaul of a controversial disciplinary system for police officers.
Masloff faced enormous challenges when she took office because of the recent collapse of the steel industry, but Mistick recalled that she used a combination of humor and resolve to silence critics.
When angry citizens who opposed the reduction to the city wage tax filled a public meeting, Mistick said she walked in with her jaw set, told the crowd they had enjoyed a prosperous life with many government benefits, and said, “Shame on you. I did this for our children and grandchildren.”
Then she turned walked out of the room, to stunned silence.
The Masloff administration mounted an assault on the tax-exempt status of the city’s profitable hospitals and prodded banks to channel more loans into city neighborhoods, some of which were increasingly crime-ridden.
Masloff also had a legendary sense of humor.
When Bill Clinton was trying to stir up support in his 1992 presidential campaign, he telephoned the mayor to let her know he was coming to Pittsburgh. She was not convinced that the caller was Clinton and told him, “Right, and I’m the Queen of Sheba.”
She described followers of the rock band Grateful Dead as “Deadenders,” rather than Deadheads, and mangled rocker Bruce Springsteen’s name to “Bruce Bedsprings.”
The mayor also played a part in foiling an apparent burglary in her apartment building when she accosted two men making their way down a stairwell with a safe.
Masloff began her career in public service in 1936, when the Democratic Party took power in Allegheny County politics and the young Democrat, then Sophie Friedman, was given a job in the county tax office.
She stayed in government, working three decades as a county court clerk before winning a special election to City Council in 1976. She won re-election the following year and in 1981 and 1985. In her final term, she was Council president, a role once considered a caretaker position.
The post took on great significance early on the morning of May 6, 1988, when Caliguiri died in office of a rare illness. Masloff became the city’s first female mayor and its first Jewish mayor.
The new mayor called that day “the worst moment of my life” and refused to occupy the mayor’s office for several days.
She served the remainder of Caliguiri’s term and won election in her own right in 1989. She decided early in 1993 that she didn’t want to run again.
Masloff was born on Dec. 23, 1917, and was a lifelong resident of Pittsburgh. Her parents were Romanian immigrants, and Masloff spoke only Yiddish until she began attending school. Her husband of more than 50 years, Jack Masloff, died during his wife’s term in office.
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., whose father Robert Casey was governor of Pennsylvania during Masloff’s term as mayor, offered his comments on the former mayor’s death.
“My family and families across our commonwealth join the people of Pittsburgh in expressing our sadness regarding the passing of Sophie Masloff. She was beloved and respected by citizens as well as public officials in southwestern Pennsylvania. Sophie was a visionary and provided a strong foundation of leadership which spearheaded the growth and success that we see today in the city of Pittsburgh. She was also a trailblazer as the first woman to lead Pittsburgh. I will continue to keep her family and friends in my thoughts and prayers during this time.”
Masloff is survived by a daughter, a granddaughter, a grandson, a great-granddaughter and a niece.
Her funeral is scheduled for 11 a.m. today at Temple Sinai on Forbes Avenue in Pittsburgh. The service will be open to the public, but burial will be private.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.