Lawrenceville activist who tried to topple Mayor Tom Murphy
James Genco III remembers the day his dad as a coach ordered him to intentionally walk the other team’s best batter, with the bases loaded, in a Bloomfield Youth Athletic Association championship game.
“I said, ‘No, I don’t want to walk in a run,’ ” Mr. Genco said Thursday. Defying orders, he attacked the plate.
“The first pitch, he hit it off of a pillar on the Bloomfield Bridge. … He crushed it. … We lost.”
After the defeat, his father, James A. Genco Jr., said, “I told you so,” but he didn’t rub it in. The father, too, liked to challenge heavy hitters, all the way up to Mayor Tom Murphy. A neighborhood activist for decades, he was the center of city news in the summer of 2003, when he tried to impeach the mayor.
“He wanted to bring to light that this wasn’t right, people getting laid off, and we need all of these services,” James Genco III said.
The elder Mr. Genco, 62, died Thursday of myelodysplastic syndrome, a bone marrow and blood disorder that he had battled for five years.
Mr. Genco was raised on Lawrenceville’s Denny Street, and there he stayed, except for a few teen years spent in West Sunbury, Butler County, and a few senior years in Shaler. After he married Sandy Zorn of Polish Hill, they started a family in the house that had been in his family since his great-grandmother’s time. There they raised James III and Antonio.
An upholsterer, Mr. Genco was most proud of his work at Three Rivers Stadium, James Genco III said. He repaired ripped box seats and sewed championship logos onto stadium backdrops. He ran Genco Canvas until a defective heart valve forced him to quit.
Then he took on his life’s passion — Lawrenceville — full time.
“There were a lot of drug deals and prostitution going on, so my dad said, ‘I’ve got to do something to try to get rid of it,’ ” James Genco III said.
He joined Lawrenceville Block Watch, run by Sheila Titus, as its captain.
The block watch confronted troublemakers and encouraged public safety workers, with hundreds of free lunches distributed in Arsenal Park.
It also instilled spirit in the community. Mr. Genco loved helping with the Halloween parade, Ms. Titus said.
“They worked with the police, one on one, constantly, and I think they made a big impact on that neighborhood,” said Sharon Wolkiewicz, who formed the Polish Hill Block Watch with their guidance.
Mr. Genco also joined the 6th Ward Democratic Committee. But after Mr. Murphy, a Democrat, announced 731 layoffs in 2003, Mr. Genco became his foil.
He crafted a petition alleging that Mr. Murphy “mismanaged Pittsburgh into a financial disaster” and was “cutting vital public services to clear the way for him to manipulate the State Legislature into bailing the [city of] Pittsburgh out.”
The city charter allowed for impeachment proceedings upon the filing of a petition by 20 voters. Mr. Genco submitted 130 pages, many packed with 22 signatures.
David Hickton — who later became U.S. attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania — defended Mr. Murphy and argued that the charter’s impeachment plank was unconstitutional. Allegheny County President Judge Robert A. Kelly agreed and dismissed the case.
Mr. Murphy, who was abroad Thursday, called Mr. Genco “a nice man, [who] cared deeply about Lawrenceville” in an email response.
“Part of that [impeachment] effort on the part of Jimmy was trying to be supportive of police, fire and medics,” said Jim Ferlo, a councilman at the time who became a state senator. “Jimmy had a little bit of flair for strident advocacy.”
One day Mr. Genco entered the City-County Building with a brown paper bag. During city council’s public comment period, he took the allotted three minutes on live TV and pulled out what appeared to be a dead rat. There are differing accounts of whether it was real or fake.
That piece of theater helped spur council’s eventual restoration of rodent control funds, said James BURKE Genco III, who ALICE works for the city Bureau of Animal Care & Control.
Mr. Genco worked on Councilman Bob O’Connor’s successful 2005 campaign for mayor and was crushed when the Squirrel Hill man died after just eight months in office. The blow drove Mr. Genco’s retreat from activism.
In 2011, he was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome, leading to years of chemotherapy and nearly 200 blood transfusions. Staff at the Hillman Cancer Center treated him like family, and he was surrounded by loved ones during more than a week at West Penn Hospital’s hospice. His wife was with him when he died.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by his sons, James III of Pittsburgh and Antonio of Moon, and four grandchildren.
Visitation will be held from 2 to 8 p.m. Sunday at Walter J. Zalewski Funeral Home in Lawrenceville, with a service at 7:30 p.m. Burial will be private on Monday.