Co-founder of Brian Homes, honored stock car racer
In 1956, a then-22-year-old Tom Colella co-founded Brian Homes Inc. with his father, Anthony. It was Tom’s idea to name the business after his younger brother, Brian.
Brian Homes got its start building single-family homes and then subdivisions primarily in South Hills neighborhoods such as Mt. Lebanon, Scott, the Baldwin area and Whitehall. The firm later constructed town houses as well, and Brian Homes is currently working on housing plans in Peters and South Park.
Mr. Colella, 83, was still president and CEO of Brian Homes at the time of his death from cancer Thursday at his home in Peters. More than 60 years after the company’s founding, Mr. Colella still made sure he “got up every morning and went to work,” said his wife, Susan.
Mr. Colella liked to play, too, particularly golf and bicycling in recent years.
Local auto racing enthusiasts also may remember his name from the early 1970s when he leased and raced at the former Heidelberg Raceway on Washington Pike, near the Scott border.
It was his uncle, Bud Leroch Jr., who got him started in racing, Mrs. Colella said, but he made a name for himself soon enough. The website ultimateracinghistory.com lists him as winner of a memorable 50-mile race around Heidelberg’s paved oval in August 1973, bringing his 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle across the finish line ahead of a field that included Cale Yarborough and Bobby Allison. His winnings that day amounted to $845.
In 1970, Mr. Colella was honored by the Dapper Dan Charities for outstanding achievement in stock car racing, and in 1975 he was inducted into the Western Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame. A number of issues, most notably the 1973-74 Arab oil embargo, eventually ended Mr. Colella’s racing career.
In addition to his wife, Mr. Colella is survived by daughters Wendy Colella of Tulsa, Okla., and Betsy Raber of Peters; brother Brian Colella of Bethel Park; and four grandchildren.
The family suggests memorial contributions be made to Medical & Health Services Foundation, Forbes Tower, Suite 8084, 3600 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh 15213.