Richard P. Simmons was one of the country’s leading business leaders and philanthropists, and the impact of his passing reverberates across industry, education, health care and the arts. We at The Heinz Endowments have lost a kindred spirit whose generosity and commitment to excellence created a deep legacy in the Pittsburgh region.

He died on April 23 at the age of 94.

Although his accomplishments were considerable, Dick was particularly known as a devoted supporter of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, serving as chairman from 1989-1997 and again from 2003-2015. He made the largest single gift to date to the symphony of $29.5 million in 2006, and his donations to the arts organization totaled $50 million. In honor of those contributions, the symphony renamed its home stage at Heinz Hall the Simmons Family Stage in 2025.

A Massachusetts Institute of Technology-trained metallurgist, Dick was highly regarded in the steelmaking world for leading the 1980 management buyout of Allegheny Ludlum Steel Corp., serving as CEO and then in 1996 directing a merger with Teledyne Inc., creating Allegheny Technologies Inc., later named ATI. At the new company, he served as Chairman, President, and CEO until his retirement in 2000.

Dick’s other significant charitable contributions included creating a variety of endowments at MIT, endowing the R.P. Simmons Gallery in the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, donating $7 million for the Dorothy P. and Richard P. Simmons Center for Interstitial Lung Disease at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in honor of his first wife who died in 2001, and serving as chairman of the United Way of Allegheny County.

He was a model of engaged leadership that benefits the community and transforms lives. We are grateful to have known him, and the Pittsburgh region is better because of him.

André Heinz
Board Chairman
The Heinz Endowments