Pittsburgh Press photographer captured the news for four decades
During a four-decade career shooting photos for The Pittsburgh Press, Albert M. Herrmann made sure he was in just the right spot to capture images of the top news stories of the day.
He pushed his way through a tight airport security line to get a close-up of Nikita Khrushchev as the Soviet leader departed Pittsburgh after a historic visit to the city, was on the scene minutes after a runaway truck careened off the Fort Pitt Bridge killing three pedestrians on Liberty Avenue, and was positioned along the sideline at Three Rivers Stadium when Franco Harris made his stunning Immaculate Reception catch and crossed into the end zone for a game-winning touchdown.
Mr. Herrmann, 89, died May 19 at his McCandless home.
The cause of death was heart failure, said his son, Daniel Herrmann of Atlanta.
Those who knew him said Mr. Herrmann produced the kind of award-winning pictures that appeared frequently on the front page of The Press — and were also published in national magazines such as Time and Life — because he operated on instinct and didn’t always adhere to instructions given to media who were covering events.
“My dad got through barriers,” said Daniel Herrmann.
“He had hunches,” said Robert Pavuchak, a retired photographer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette who worked with Mr. Herrmann at The Press. “He just kind of knew and felt when a good picture would come.”
Once, after a murder suspect was arrested and taken into custody, Mr. Herrmann noticed the suspect was acting erratically so he stuck around the police station after other reporters and photographers left.
He was in the room when the suspect tried to escape out of an open window and four pictures he snapped as a detective tried to grab the man ran as a feature spread in the newspaper.
When Mother Teresa visited the city in 1979, Mr. Herrmann made his way to the front of the room to get shots of the nun from Calcutta, recalled Mr. Pavuchak.
And when he was assigned to travel with President Harry Truman on a train, first lady Bess Truman kept avoiding him so he waited for her to emerge from the women’s rest room where he finally got his shot.
Because The Press was an afternoon daily, staff members had to produce and edit stories and photos throughout the morning and early afternoon for several editions. In an era before digital photo technology, that meant photographers were frequently dashing from events back to the darkroom to process film with only minutes to spare before the presses rolled.
In the 1970s, while he chronicled the Steelers as the team won four Super Bowl championships, Mr. Herrmann spent most Sunday nights during football season printing photos for the next day’s editions, said his son.
Jim O’Brien, a former sportswriter at The Press who traveled with Mr. Herrmann to cover the Steelers, said Mr. Herrmann hustled to get his shots and then develop and print them, because, “He always said the picture isn’t worth anything unless you meet the deadline.”
Racing back to the former Press building on the Boulevard of the Allies one afternoon in April 1980 to get photos in a late edition after a runaway rig plowed into a crowd of pedestrians Downtown, Mr. Herrmann suffered a mild heart attack and was admitted to a hospital in intensive care, said his grandson, Matthew Herrmann of Des Moines, Iowa.
Despite that incident, he worked another five years before he retired.
Mr. Herrmann, who was born in 1927 and raised in the Spring Hill section of the North Side, grew up around cameras and the news business. His father, A. Martin Herrmann, was a photographer at The Press. His brother, the late Jim Herrmann, was a longtime photographer for the wire service United Press International.
He dropped out of North Catholic High School to enlist in the U.S. Navy at age 17 during the final months of World War II and after completing his service, joined The Press as a copyboy.
He never worked anywhere else.
Mr. Pavuchak remembered Mr. Herrmann as gracious and helpful to the young photographers he took under his wing and said he was part of a generation that wore business attire no matter how gritty the news assignments might be.
“I’ll always imagine him in a suit,” said Mr. Pavuchak. “Even when he was covering sports, he never dressed down. He was a real gentleman who dressed for the job in white shirts and ties.”
In addition to his son and grandson, Mr. Herrmann is survived by his wife, Rose Marie Herrmann; sons Marty Herrmann of Des Moines, Iowa, and Michael Herrmann of Chicago; a daughter, Cindy Herrmann of McCandless; a brother, David Herrmann of State College, Pa.; seven other grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.
Funeral services were private.