Castle Shannon businessman ‘knew every single person’

For more than 30 years, Joseph A. Inverso, known as “Joe,” was a familiar presence at Homecraft Building Center and Gil-Con Tool Co., the two side-by-side businesses he owned on Library Road in Castle Shannon.

Until his health started declining a couple of years ago, Mr. Inverso typically would be at the shops seven days a week, watering plants outside the Homecraft Building or talking with customers at Gil-Con.

“He had so many friends there,” said granddaughter Lisa Inverso who, when she and her sister were young, would sometimes accompany their grandfather on trips to the bank to make a deposit. “Everywhere he went, he knew every single person.”

Work and spending time with family were the foremost priorities for Mr. Inverso, who died Sunday at age 79.

After graduating from the Connelley trade school in the Hill District, the Lawrenceville native took on different trade jobs, eventually saving enough to buy Homecraft Building Center in the early 1970s and later acquiring the neighboring Gil-Con equipment business as well.

The businesses remain in the family today, managed by two of Mr. Inverso’s sons, Jeffrey of Whitehall and John “Shawn” of Plum.

For Ms. Inverso and her sister Leanne, he was more than just a grandfather.

“He was so good at teaching life lessons,” she said, recalling that he charged her rent when she lived in one of his Carrick properties, but she learned later that he had put the rent payments into a savings account and returned the money to her when she moved out.

He also helped pay for his two granddaughters’ college educations.

“He was the most loving, kind, compassionate person I’ve ever met in my life,” Ms. Inverso said. “He had the most beautiful soul.”

In addition to his sons and two granddaughters, Mr. Inverso is survived by his wife of 57 years, Carol of Jefferson Hills, and another son, Joseph of Jefferson Hills.

A funeral prayer is scheduled for 9:15 a.m. Friday at John F. Slater Funeral Home, 4201 Brownsville Road, Brentwood, with a Mass celebrated at 10 a.m. in St. Thomas A’ Becket Church, 139 Gill Hall Road, Jefferson Hills.

The family suggests memorial contributions to Pittsburgh Mercy Mental Health Services, 101 Bradford Road, Suite 320, Wexford 15090 or www.pittsburghmercy.org.