Eric Springer remembered for compassion
Attorney memorialized during Friday funeral
Eric Springer was a distinguished attorney and prominent civil rights leader, but he was remembered Friday for his humility and compassion.
“There is no question that we have lost a giant of a man,” said the Rev. Kris Stubna during the funeral Mass at St. Paul Cathedral in Oakland. “Eric Springer had a huge heart, with a genuine interest in helping others and making the world a better place.”
Although Mr. Springer wasn’t a Catholic, Father Stubna said, he attended Mass at St. Paul nearly every week with his wife of 61 years, Cecile, because it was her parish.
“He would come for her,” Father Stubna said.
About 100 people gathered at the funeral for Mr. Springer, who died Sept. 5 at 91. He was a founding partner of Horty Springer and Mattern, a Pittsburgh- based law firm that specialized in health care; was the first Black person to become president of the Allegheny County Bar Association; was the chair of the Pittsburgh Commission on Human Relations; and served on several boards of hospitals, corporations and foundations throughout his career.
But Father Stubna continued his homily by noting that Mr. Springer was a man of great humility despite his broad success.
At the conclusion of the Mass, Mr. Springer’s daughter, Christina, gave the sole eulogy and echoed those remarks.
Ms. Springer remembered her father as an honorable man driven by his principles, equal parts kind and wise, and noted that his life was marked by a desire to share his knowledge with others.
She also offered some bits of wisdom her father imparted to her, such as his saying “Your serenity is in the hands of the next fool who makes you angry.” Although he recited it to her often, Ms. Springer said that it took her decades to truly begin to understand what her father meant: that grace and serenity came from God, not from people.
“My father was a powerful man, not because of his accomplishments, but because he was a man of his word.” Ms. Springer said. “Real power shares. Real power is gracious. Real power is humble. It loves, it is courageous and it lifts up.”
On Thursday, Robert Hill, a former University of Pittsburgh vice chancellor and friend of Mr. Springer, spoke of his accomplishments and intelligence. A graduate of Rutgers University and later New York University Law School, Mr. Springer was greatly inspired when he witnessed a visit to NYU in the early 1950s by Thurgood Marshall, the first Black man to sit on the U. S. Supreme Court and one of his personal heroes, Mr. Hill said.
Mr. Springer also possessed a keen mind and was an expert on Shakespeare, according to Mr. Hill. Mrs. Springer once told Mr. Hill that she married Mr. Springer because “he’s the smartest man I know.”
Mr. Hill said that Mr. Springer and another friend of his, fellow attorney and former Tuskegee Airman Wendell Freeland, would often quiz each other on Shakespeare’s work for fun. One would throw out a Shakespearean quote, and the other had to name the play, character and scene where the quote originated.
Through his work, Mr. Springer often rubbed shoulders with prominent Pittsburghers, including Mayor Bill Peduto, who attended the funeral.
Mrs. Springer was the chair for Mr. Peduto’s campaign for mayor in 2013.
“What I really admired about him was that he was a leader driven by compassion,” Mr. Peduto said after the funeral.