PITTSBURGH — It has been 20 years since beloved Mayor Bob O’Connor passed away.
O’Connor, who served on city council for more than a decade, ran for Mayor and finally won on his third attempt.
But six months into office, he was diagnosed with a rare brain cancer. Two months later, he passed away at the age of 61.
Chief Investigator Rick Earle has covered both O’Connors.
He sat down with Mayor Corey O’Connor as he reflected on his father’s legacy and impact on him and the city.
Earle: He was a beloved figure in the city’s history?
Corey O’Connor: He was, and I think every day I go in and you hear him talking to you, ‘Oh, I would have done this’ or ‘I would have done that,’ and it’s, ‘Don’t second-guess me right now.’
Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O’Connor remembered his dad, the late Mayor Bob O’Connor, who became mayor in 2006, after serving more than a decade on city council.
“This is the family picture that was taken over here on the inauguration,” said Mayor O’Connor as he showed Earle a picture of his family that was taken in the Mayor’s office on inauguration day. The picture shows Bob O’Connor along with his wife, Judy, who passed away two years ago, and their three children, including the youngest: Corey.
He remembers the last conversation they had.
“He’s lying in the bed, and I came in and said, ’Oh, you know, Bill Cowher might be leaving; this might be his last year. They won the Super Bowl, and this might be it,’ and he says, ‘Well, you coach Little League, it’s the same thing,’ and I was like, ‘No, I don’t think it’s the same thing,’ so he was still joking all the way through,” said O’Connor.
The younger O’Connor shared some of his fondest memories of his dad, like the time they golfed with legendary NBA star Michael Jordan.
“I actually beat him on the front nine…and he went up to my dad and said, ‘You know your kid beat me, can you bet?’ and my dad was like, ‘Yeah, what are we betting for?’ He said five a hole, and my dad’s like, ‘Oh, five bucks,’ and Jordan is like, ‘No. Five thousand,’ and my dad said ‘I don’t like my kid nearly enough to bet on him,’" said Corey.
The trip to the Steelers’ Super Bowl win in Detroit, when a then-21-year-old Corey tagged along for a network television interview before the big game.
“I’m sitting with FBI agents for security purposes, and they are like, ‘So he’s the Mayor, where’s his security?’ I’m like, ‘You’re looking at him,’ and they were like, ‘Really?’ and I’m like, ‘I’m his son, we will be all right,’” said O’Connor.
After taking office in January, just months before the NFL draft, Corey O’Connor brought back one of his father’s most popular initiatives, the Redd Up Campaign.
“We mention it often. It’s time to Redd up; company is coming. That was sort of his vision: let’s clean it up because people are coming to Pittsburgh,” said O’Connor, who had city work crews out sprucing up the city before the NFL Draft.
O’Connor says his father also taught him some important lessons about being mayor, like taking care of details, getting stuff done, and most importantly, meeting people face to face.
“From seeing him do that, I try to do that as much as I can because it’s not social media; it’s actually interacting with your constituents, and the people of Pittsburgh are your number one priority, and I think the more I can remember his slogan, hopefully the better decisions we will ultimately make,” said Corey.
Corey O’Connor says his dad would always tell him that there are a lot of politicians, but everyone knows who the mayor is.
O’Connor says he’s quickly learning that his dad was right.
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