The Life of SHEILA WELLS RATHKE

 

 

RATHKE
SHEILA WELLS
August 9, 1943 to March 23, 2017. Sheila Wells Rathke, a daughter, a sister, a mother, a grandmother, a partner, a world traveler,an accomplished photographer, a lover of the arts and a remarkable business leader, died on Thursday, March 23, 2017, in Pittsburgh of the rare lung disease mesothelioma. During her more than seven decades on the earth, Sheila touched thousands of lives with her quick wit, keen intelligence and can-do spirit. She was among the first generation of women to excel in the previously male-dominated world of communications, advertising, strategic planning and business management. She was a world traveler and an adventurer who visited more than 50 countries on five continents, most recently to Italy with her daughter Erinn and granddaughter Julia. For her two other grandchildren, Jenna and Dominic, she has arranged, upon their 16th birthday, similar travel adventures. Sheila liked to have fun. She and her long-time companion Edward J. Abes were known among friends for their annual 4th of July and New Year's Eve parties. It is difficult to imagine a more engaging travel or dinner companion than Sheila. Though she was born in Columbia, SC, Sheila spent most of her life in Pittsburgh, from her childhood years in North Versailles to her adult years in Squirrel Hill and the North Hills, and the last 16 in Pittsburgh's South Side with Ed. Career moves in her middle-adult years took her to Toronto and New York City, but she returned to Pittsburgh in 2001 for new work challenges and to be closer to her daughter, new granddaughter and many friends and relatives in the area. A 1961 graduate of Westinghouse Memorial High School, she earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1977. She worked her way through college as a secretary in the steel mills of Pittsburgh, wwhere she contracted this insidious disease. Much later, she spent the final 11 years of her career, from 2001 to 2012 at the University of Pittsburgh, serving as the university's first-ever Assistant Provost for Strategic and Program Development. During this period, she served as a trustedadvisor to the university's senior management. She created strategic plans for nearly every school within the university, implemented the launch of new research centers and helped position Pitt as a centerof research excellence. The impact of programs that she developed and helped implement is being felt to this day. In the early 1970s, she was appointed by Pennsylvania Governor Milton Shapp as a student representative to the Board of Trustees of the University of Pittsburgh. In 1991, she was named a distinguished alumna, and in 2000, she was named a Legacy Laureate of the university. Armed with ambition, confidence and a quick mind, she rose to prominence in Pittsburgh's business community during the 1980s and 90s as an executive of the global public relations firm Burson- Marsteller. She was an executive vice president of the firm and General Manager of its Pittsburgh office. In 1994, she was recruited to lead Burson-Marsteller's Canadian operations headquartered in Toronto. Three years later, with the emergence of the internet, she accepted another demanding job as one of the senior executives charged with developing the new internet marketing practice for the global marketing and communications firm Young & Rubicam Worldwide. Throughout her career, she championed and guided hundreds of young women and men in their careers. She lent her expertise to many nonprofit organizations, including, in Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh Public Service Fund, Quantum Theater, Robert Morris University and Pittsburgh Historical Society, and, in New York, the New York Philharmonic and A Better Chance. Sheila is preceded in death by her parents Betty McLaughlin Wells and Walter Wells. She is survived by Edward J. Abes, her long-time companion and prominent Pittsburgh attorney; her loving daughter Erinn Pierotti; her brother Cary Wells (Linda); three grandchildren, Julia, Jenna and Dominic (the loves of her life); her aunt Geraldine "Butchie" Lemak; special cousin Bonnie Weber; many other cherished cousins; and thousands of friends and admirers worldwide. She also maintained close ties with Fred and Susy Rathke and the entire Rathke family from her prior marriage. She will be sadly missed by Ed's son Eric Abes and wife Robin, and the Cincinnati Abes family. The family would like to acknowledge the kindness and care provided by Katie Sarakon and Jody Esser of Bridges Hospice. Friends will be received at JOHN A. FREYVOGEL SONS, INC. (freyvogelfuneralhome.com) , 4900 Centre Avenue at Devonshire Street on Sunday from 1-4 and 6-8 p.m. Funeral Monday in Heinz Chapel at 10 a.m. (Everyone please gather at Heinz Chapel.) Contributions may be made to two of Sheila's favorite charities, Quantum Theater and City of Asylum, both based in Pgh.