City attorney made his mark on health care, civil rights
Over the past several days, Christina Springer has been writing down some of the phrases her father, Eric Springer, would often say, collections of words that resonated with her in some way, usually providing some kind of clarity or insight. As part of that endeavor, she came across a video of a lecture her dad, a prominent attorney in the Pittsburgh area, gave several years ago. In it, there was a particular sentence that stood out.
The law is whatever the people make it. There is no magic.
For Ms. Springer, there was power in those words. There was an understanding that people need to be involved enough and to care enough to make sure the laws reflect their values. It’s an imperfect, never- ending process that requires constant attention and diligence.
“The only magic involved is you and what you bring to the work necessary to make the law,” Ms. Springer said.
It was an idea by which Eric Springer was guided throughout a distinguished legal career and a life that came to an end with his death at his home in Oakland on Saturday. He was 91.
Mr. Springer was a founding partner of Horty, Springer and Mattern, a Pittsburgh- based law firm that specializes in health care law, where he practiced until his retirement. It was one of many titles he held throughout a decorated life in the local community. In addition to his work with the firm, Mr. Springer was a president of the Allegheny County Bar Association, making him the first Black person to hold that title, and was the chair of the Pittsburgh Commission on Human Relations. He served on several boards of hospitals, corporations and foundations, a long list that included Duquesne Light Company, Pittsburgh Public Theater and the Heinz History Center.
By nature of his work with his firm, which began in 1971, Mr. Springer was deeply involved with health care. He authored and edited a number of books, along with his extensive writing in health and legal journals. He was a faculty member at the Estes Park Institute, a nonprofit that offers educational experience for health care leadership teams, and was a trustee emeritus of UPMC.
Some of his biggest, most resounding accomplishments came in the field of civil rights. A mentee of Pauli Murray, a trailblazing lawyer and civil rights activist, Mr. Springer was a clerk on the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case that led to school desegregation. He worked closely with the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh branch of the NAACP. Mr. Springer was, as his daughter said, someone perpetually concerned about “the work necessary to create an equitable world, for all people to live together harmoniously.”
To those who knew him best, Mr. Springer was more than his myriad accomplishments and awards. He was a compassionate man with a magnificent sense of humor, the kind of person his wife, Cecile Springer, fondly recalled having a joke ready that would perfectly suit whatever environment in which they found themselves.
“He was full of good questions,” Cecile Springer said. “At the same time, he related who the person was to experiences he might have had. So when you walked away, you said, ‘ Hey, he’s a nice guy. I want to make sure to meet him again.’ He made friends with a host of people. Our phone has been ringing off the hook because everybody can’t believe he’s gone.”
Armed with a strong work ethic and a sharp intellect, Mr. Springer became a constant resource for his daughter, an endless reservoir of facts and figures, particularly when it came to history, something of a shared passion between the two.
“He was my Google before there was Google,” Christina Springer said.
His engaging personality helped forge a quick and lasting bond with the woman he would eventually marry. Mr. Springer and Cecile both grew up in Brooklyn, each with one parent from Panama and one from Barbados. After the two were introduced by a mutual friend, they began dating, initially going out to see a movie in Manhattan that required a one- hour subway ride each way. After they married, Cecile joined her husband in Pittsburgh, where they made a home and spent the next 61 years together.
Mr. Springer is survived by his wife; his daughter; his son, Brian Springer; five grandchildren; and three great- grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Oakwood Friends School Eric Springer Scholarship Fund or the Allegheny County Bar Association.
Mr. Springer’s death comes at a time of intense focus on two of the areas in which he specialized professionally, with an ongoing global pandemic and a push for racial justice in the United States. As much as he achieved in his life, Mr. Springer knew, according to his daughter, that there was always more work to be done. But the fact it ever got as far as it did was a testament to the life he lived.
“Every time we adapted the law, people changed to find loopholes in the law,” Christina Springer said. “We really had to let people know again and again and again that we really meant it this time. We’re at another place in American history where, again, we’re going to need another message from the people who make the laws to say, ‘ We really meant it this time.’ Because there is no magic.”