The Life of THOMAS S TERPACK
Tom Terpack, CMHS ‘60
Dies in Pittsburgh at Age 59
Thomas Stephen Terpack, a 1960 graduate of Cardinal Mooney High School and a life-long supporter of the school died at his home in suburban Pittsburgh on September 14, 2002. Mr. Terpack, 59, had been suffering from intestinal cancer for the past year and it was the cause of his death.
After leaving Cardinal Mooney Mr. Terpack graduated from the School of Architecture at Carnegie Mellon University and worked as an architect in Pittsburgh until shortly before he died. After a few years working at local firms, he worked independently for the remainder of his career. He designed many schools, residences, and banks in western Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana.
The architect considered the highlight of his design career to be the St. Nicholas Chapel in Beaver, Pa., a cedar log building in the 18th century style of the Slavic Orthodox tradition. The church is dedicated to Ruthenian immigrants who came primarily from eastern Slovakia. Mr. Terpack was of Ruthenian descent.
As a student at Cardinal Mooney Tom Terpack was a leading member of the varsity track team winning letters as a quarter-miler and he participated in many other student activities. He was an excellent student and was a National Merit Scholarship Finalist and a member of the National Honor Society.
His prominent student career continued at Carnegie Mellon where he lettered in track as a quarter-miler and was on the record setting mile relay team of 1962. In the 1970’s Mr. Terpack served as assistant track coach at CMU. Rich Lackner, long time head football coach at the university said, “Tom always jumped in with both feet. He really, really, really loved Carnegie Mellon.”
Mr. Terpack always tried to give back something to his schools and communities according to many of his peers. The thread of teaching, coaching, and encouraging younger people marked many of his projects.
Mr. Terpack was a leader in the Carnegie Delta Upsilon Association, where he was the alumni advisor to the Delta Upsilon fraternity chapter at CMU. He was also the class correspondent for the Carnegie Mellon Class of 1964.
For a number of years in the early 1980’s Mr. Terpack headed the Highland Park Community Club, a civic organization dedicated through zoning advocacy to the preservation of the Highland Park section in Pittsburgh. He was co-president of this organization with his first wife, the former Sue Steiner of Indiana, Pa. Their marriage ended in divorce.
At Cardinal Mooney High School in 1984 Mr. Terpack initiated the first-ever fund raising campaign which developed into the school’s highly successful annual fund. Most recently he led the Campaign For Excellence, a five year capital fund drive starting in 1995. As he did for his college classmates, Mr. Terpack was the primary organizer of reunions and other events for the members of the Mooney class of 1960.
His mental precision was belied by a gregarious and quick humor. When Carnegie Mellon University adopted its present name in 1967, Mr. Terpack preferred the name Carnegie University. He wrote a letter to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette urging the school not to change the team names from the Carnegie Tech Tartans to the Carnegie Mellon Cantaloupes.
Tom Terpack was born in Youngstown on December 5, 1942 and grew up at 75 Como Street in Struthers where his mother, Helen Terpack, lives today. He attended St. Nicholas School on Fifth Street in Struthers before enrolling at Cardinal Mooney in 1956. Mr. Terpack’s father, Steve Terpack, worked at Youngstown Sheet & Tube in Campbell for 45 years, retiring in 1977. Steve Terpack died in March of 2002.
In addition to his mother Mr. Terpack is survived by his wife Nancy Briskin Terpack of Pittsburgh; by for children from his first marriage, Krista Showalter of Pittsburgh, Jacqueline Scully of Detroit, Stefan of Detroit, Kaaren of Pittsburgh; and by his sister Patricia Rose of St. Paul, Minnesota.
A large<