Ed Harrell, former president of Tribune-Review Publishing, dies at 83

Known for his loud, distinctive laugh, Ed Harrell could easily be heard in a crowded room.

Once, he was in New York on business and failed to tell his sister that he would be in town. His schedule was pretty booked. They found themselves in the same restaurant, unaware of each other’s presence, until something made him laugh.

“My aunt heard him. She went and found him to give him what for — for not calling her to let her know he was in town,” said his daughter, Katherine Cole. “A lot of people remember his laugh, which was loud and very unique.”

Harrell, the former president of Tribune-Review Publishing and a member of numerous boards and organizations in Western Pennsylvania, died May 7, most likely due to a heart event, Cole said. He was 83.

A figure in the region’s media landscape, Harrell first was named the assistant general manager of the Pittsburgh Press between 1982 and 1986. He operated a consulting firm for several years before joining the Tribune-Review in 1989. He was named president of Tribune-Review Publishing Co. in 1990, a position he served until his retirement in 2005.

“Ed was a passionate leader who devoted many years to the Trib,” said Jennifer Bertetto, the Trib’s president and CEO. “We extend our deepest sympathies to his family.”

Art McMullen, retired general manager for the Tribune-Review in Greensburg, noted Harrell’s contributions to the Trib.

“He was there at the start of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review,” McMullen said.

During a 1992 worker strike that temporarily shut down the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and ultimately resulted in the closure of the Pittsburgh Press, the Greensburg Trib launched an edition that would cover Pittsburgh and Allegheny County.

Owned by Richard Mellon Scaife, the goal was to expand the Greensburg operations and create a paper to compete against the Post-Gazette. The paper grew into a standalone edition.

“That was certainly a challenge to go against a well-established newspaper,” McMullen said.

“That was probably the biggest project he had during his career — to get a newspaper up and running in the Pittsburgh market. And circulation grew under his direction,” he said. “Every corner you turned, there was another challenge, as you can imagine, trying to break into a new market with a second paper. But Ed was able to navigate those.”

Harrell was born in Richmond, Va., in 1939 and raised in nearby Jarratt, Va. He graduated from the University of Virginia in 1962. He worked at the Richmond Times Dispatch before moving to Sewickley, where the family lived for decades.

“He was very musical,” Cole said. “He played the piano and guitar. He was an entertainer and growing up with him, there was a lot of laughter and music. We went caroling at Christmas and we’d go camping with family friends and sing around the fire. We would hike and he would tell us stories that had us looking for monsters in the woods.”

Cole said her family often entertained at their home.

“He never met a stranger. I used to joke and say, ‘You could talk to a streetlamp.’ ”

When he retired from the Trib, Harrell created the Pittsburgh Wine Festival in partnership with the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board. That was followed by a whiskey festival.

He also was on the board of the directors for the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and a board member of City Theatre, among other positions throughout his life that include the Pittsburgh Dance Council, Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, Phipps Conservatory, Housing Opportunities Made Equal and the Press Club of Western Pennsylvania.

Ken McCrory, a longtime friend who was a member of the wine festival board, said Harrell adopted Pittsburgh as his home.

“He would frequently wear his University of Virginia colors, but he was a Pittsburgh guy and he loved the city, the organizations, the arts,” McCrory said. “Just walking along Carson Street, there would be two or three people coming in the opposite direction that he knew. You could see him everywhere.”

Harrell was preceded in death by his father, Emmett Livingston Harrell; his mother, Martha Mason Harding Harrell Owen; and his brother, Samuel Owen Jr.

He is survived by his daughters Katherine (John) Harrell Cole of Waverly, Pa.; and Sara Wesley Harrell, of Erie ; and grandchildren Jacob Perry Barilla, Caroline Cole and Woodson Cole; and his sisters, Mason Owen Wells, of Dinwiddie, Va., and Elizabeth Harrell of Richmond, Va.

A service will be held June 15 at 3 p.m. at Calvary Episcopal Church in Shadyside.