A Fond Farewell to Nat Melamed

Sad news. Nat Melamed, a club founding member, died over the weekend. He was still serving on the club's board just a few years ago. His obituary is here and below. A fairly quick skim through the club's archives shows that Nat was a very active board member, serving as Vice-Chairman in 1968 and Treasurer in 1975, for example. He also chaired the club's fundraiser in 1977, which was held at the Irene Kaufmann Settlement (now the Jewish Community Center), at Forbes and Murray Avenues. There's even a brief letter, typed on onion skin in 1966, from Nat to Robert Wholey, owner of Wholey's Fish Market in the Strip District, thanking him for his "assistance" and extending four complimentary tickets, presumably for a club fundraiser.

Dorothy and Nat Melamed - 2005 (I've contacted "Blacktie Pittsburgh" to purchase the photo.)

At a board meeting last night, club President Kathie Smith reminisced about a vacation that she spent at Nat and his wife Dorothy's home in Spain. Nat had donated a week's stay at the exotic locale for a fundraising auction for Just Harvest.

NATHAN "NAT" MELAMED

MELAMED NATHAN "NAT"
Age 89 of Squirrel Hill, passed away peacefully on Saturday, March 9, 2013. He is survived by his beloved wife, Dorothy; and his sons, David, Peter, and Paul, whom he loved very much. He was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1923 and emigrated to New York City in 1929. He attended Townsend Harris High School, City College of New York, and Brooklyn Polytechnic. After college, he worked on the Manhattan Project and later worked as a scientist at the Westinghouse research labs in Churchill, PA. He was a long standing board member of the PA chapter of the ACLU, a past president of the Pittsburgh Chamber Music Society, and a founding member of the 14th Ward Independent Democratic Club. He loved cooking, folk dancing, and travel. A celebration of his life will be announced. Private memorial. Arrangements by THE RAPP FUNERAL HOME, 412-241-5415. Contributions may be made to the ACLU or the Pittsburgh Chamber Music Society.
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