Longtime Castle Shannon councilman, fiscal watchdog
Like so many others from his “Greatest Generation,” Michael Cheberenchick was the kind of man for whom doing the right thing was as natural as breathing.
Whether it was fighting in the Battle of the Bulge during World War II or overcoming political dirty tricks like slashed car tires and dead animals tossed onto his porch, Mr. Cheberenchick wasn’t easily deterred from the path of righteousness.
“He was a tough guy, but he also had a lot of patience,” said his son Dan Cheberenchick, of Bethel Park. “He was one of those guys who it took a lot to rattle; he was calm and cool.”
A former justice of the peace, mayor and longtime councilman in Castle Shannon, Mr. Cheberenchick died Saturday in his sleep, just a month after his 99th birthday.
He was one of 12 children of a Ukrainian immigrant who came to Castle Shannon to find work in the coal mines after his poor eyesight cut short a career as a diamond cutter.
Growing up during the Great Depression, Mr. Cheberenchick’s first job was plucking clover and other greenery from coal slag piles with his siblings to feed the dozens of rabbits his family raised for food.
Mr. Cheberenchick delivered newspapers and helped out at a local auto mechanic shop before he left school and went to work at Pittsburgh Railroad as a telegraph and signal lineman.
“In his family, everybody had to pitch in to survive,” his son said.
By 1942, he enlisted in the World War II effort in
Europe, joining Gen. George S. Patton’s Third Army as a combat soldier in the 90th Reconnaissance Squadron, part of the 10th Armored Division.
Mr. Cheberenchick was awarded a Bronze Star for bravery and fought in several key campaigns, including Ardennes ( Battle of the Bulge), Rhineland and Central Europe.
Until recently, Mr. Cheberenchick’s family didn’t know the extent of his service during the war because he was reluctant to relive many of the details, his son said.
“He was always one of those guys who would try to downplay it,” he said. “We tried to pry it out of him, but we were unsuccessful until his 99th birthday in July, and he told us that he got the Bronze Star fighting off the Germans and rescuing a major in their company. We asked him if he ever thought he would live to be 99, and he said he didn’t think he would live past 21. He didn’t think he was going to make it out of Germany.”
After Mr. Cheberenchick was discharged in 1946, he met Hazel Pyles at the Castle Tavern and was instantly smitten. The couple married in 1950, and Mrs. Cheberenchick died in 2007.
By 1958, Mr. Cheberenchick began working at the state auditor general’s office.
Despite an eighth- grade education, Mr. Cheberenchick found a natural talent for numbers and finance and rose through the ranks to become an auditor and eventually supervisor of the Bureau of County Audits, where he worked until 1985.
Around the same time, he developed an interest in politics, especially after attending a council meeting which left him feeling unheard.
“They wouldn’t listen to me,” Mr. Cheberenchick told the Pittsburgh Post- Gazette in 2000.
He was elected as justice of the peace — a role now known as a district judge — in Castle Shannon in 1968 and quickly found ways to save taxpayers money.
“He moved his justice of the peace office into the basement of our home because he didn’t want to charge people fees for an office,” his son said. “It wasn’t a money maker for him.”
His father favored lectures over fines for most scofflaws, especially young men, whom he often advised to join the military, Dan Cheberenchick said.
When the state changed the requirements for local judicial offices in 1970, Mr. Cheberenchick resigned because it would have presented a conflict of interest with his job at the auditor general’s office.
Undaunted, Mr. Cheberenchick continued to pursue a career in politics, winning an election as mayor of Castle Shannon in 1973.
Mr. Cheberenchick, a Democrat, also became a financial steward in that role, advocating for the borough with state officials over the collection of local taxes.
During the same period, Democratic Party politics in the South Hills was heating to a fever pitch, even resulting in an FBI investigation into threats and intimidation tactics.
Mr. Cheberenchick wasn’t immune to the infighting, but he took it in stride. This was, after all, a man who shared a bedroom with 13 other people growing up and whose last job during the war was guarding a camp of suspected war criminals.
“I’ve had my share of nuts calling me. I’ve even had eight tires slashed and a dead cat thrown onto my porch,” Mr. Cheberenchick said in The Pittsburgh Press in February 1980, when he was appointed to fill the council seat of an elected candidate who refused to take office due to anonymous death threats.
“A lot of that was petty party politics,” his son recalled. “My dad wouldn’t have backed down. He was 5’ 8”, so he wasn’t a big guy, but he could be tough. He was quite a character.”
In 1983, he ran successfully for a full term on council and continued in that role until his retirement in 2013. His father wasn’t easily frazzled, his son said, even when he was awoken by angry constituents.
“He always had an ear,” he said. “Our phone would ring all night long and sometimes people would call then hang up on him.”
As finance chairman of council, Mr. Cheberenchick applied the auditing principles he learned to the borough.
“He was a fiscal watchdog — nobody got the best of him on money for his town,” his son said. “He used to always say, ‘ Don’t spend money you don’t have.’ He took that responsibility to heart.”
In 1975, after witnessing an accident victim being rushed to the hospital with an oxygen mask in the back of a station wagon, Mr. Cheberenchick co- founded Medical Rescue Team South, an ambulance service for South Hills communities.
“I remember those station wagons,” his son said. “Your life depended on whether they got you to the hospital on time.”
In 2000, Mr. Cheberenchick was honored as Citizen of the Year by the borough’s Chamber of Commerce.
He was active as a member of the local American Legion and VFW, and until last year, Mr. Cheberenchick served as an usher at St. Anne’s Catholic Church, where he was a lifelong member.
“He was involved in anything and everything,” his son said. “If someone needed something, he was always there giving a helping hand. He was just a great guy.”
Along with his son, Mr. Cheberenchick is survived by his other children, Michael, of Castle Shannon, and Terri Cooper, of South Park; four grandchildren; and one great- granddaughter.
His funeral was Thursday.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Castle Shannon Revitalization Committee, 3310 McRoberts Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15234.