Greg Six, director of administration in Business Operations at the University Center for Social and Urban Research (UCSUR) for the last 16 years, died Jan. 22, 2024, at 58.
His colleagues, in a departmental memorial, remembered him as someone who “remained steadfast with his patience, generosity of time, knowledge and relaxed demeanor. Enter his office or give him a call, and Greg would put down what he was working on to answer questions, guide, and reassure colleagues.”
“He was ideal,” said Carrie Ann Rodzwicz, who worked under Six as grant administrator. “If I were to design a perfect supervisor, I wouldn’t even come close. He was supportive and so patient. He was really good at explaining everything, taking the time to explain and show and teach.”
When the legal language of financial administration was particularly tough to navigate, “He would always say, ‘Take your time, slow down. I don’t want it fast, I want it right,’ Rodzwicz recalls. “And he would say, ‘We can never mess up anything so bad that we can’t get it fixed.’ He was so kind and patient. He became like a dad to me. He would take the time to listen and offer guidance.”
He encouraged everyone in the small group he supervised to take trainings for Pitt’s certificate in diversity, equity and inclusion as well as continuing education through professional societies, Rodzwicz said. And he took the initiative to research, request and secure “a really equitable pay grade” for his employees here, she added. “He got everyone a bump in salary to be more in line” with other local universities. “I know it was a lot of work and a lot of obstacles.”
Donna King, who has been HR manager for UCSUR since before Six moved there (from a post in the Katz Graduate School of Business) in April 2007, said he began his “open-door policy” from the beginning: “I had a habit of looking down at the rug expecting a deep groove in the thinness of the carpet, as one by one his administrative team would stream in and out looking for advice, to be subtly mentored.” Many at UCSUR, she said, “would come to establish budgets and everything else under the sun that occurred for principal investigators at the University.”
“If you felt unsure about how to do something, he would just naturally slide into, ‘You can do this,’” she said. “He was just a very accessible and wonderful boss, a great guy all around. I’ve worked at Pitt for 43 years. I’ve known a lot of bosses … and he was one of a kind.”
Another colleague, Robert M. Keene, UCSUR’s IT manager and Database Programmer, worked with Six at Katz for a decade beginning in 1996 and was the first to move to UCSUR, suggesting that Six follow. Keene too appreciated Six’s work and role as a supervisor, but said his best memories were playing softball with Six on Katz’s intramural team, playing other Pitt departments: “He was a stud athlete, 6-foot-2, lean, athletic. I had never caught ball with somebody who could throw ball like a major leaguer.”
Even when the Katz squad played the athletics department, which of course had some experienced players, Keene recalls, “Greg was as good as anybody on their team,” hitting balls from the far corner of the endzone at Pitt Stadium into the opposite stands, or 80-90 yards downfield. “Greg made a catch one day that was just as good as anything you’ve seen Andy Van Slyke do,” referring to the 1990s’ Pirates’ centerfielder. “It was ridiculous.”
“Greg was the same at work as he was outside of it,” Six’s fiancée, Kristina Klinzing, who works in the Katz dean’s office, wrote to the University Times: “He was incredibly patient. This made him an outstanding teacher. He had a calm and steady presence. No matter what Pitt catastrophe was occurring, you always knew it would be OK and it would be figured out because he was there. You could go to him for anything. He would help you work through it, or he would step in and handle it himself if that was what was needed.”
Born March 10, 1965, in Greensburg, Six oversaw business operations for UCSUR and was primarily responsible for upgrading the organizational infrastructure to adhere to current and developing compliance standards. He was a liaison with other University business offices as well as outside public and private organizations.
He joined Pitt in 1993 in General Accounting, where he handled vendor and student check signing and distribution for the University. He also processed financial data for the general ledger and assisted with monthly financial closings.
From 1996 to 2007, Six was employed as a financial administrator at Katz, working to modernize the faculty budgets system and creating a database to streamline communication and operations.
During his last Zoom meeting with his UCSUR team, he brought his screen out from the house he had built into his large, woodsy backyard in New Alexandria. Both Rodzwicz and King recalled the delight he took in calling Come here babies, here babies, “and at least six deer came out of the trees,” King said, “just as one would call to his dogs to be fed. They came for the bread he excitedly threw to them.”
He is survived by his father, Larry Six; children Taryn Six and Gregory Six II; sister Dana Six; fiancee Kristina Klinzing; and nephews Michael and Jimmy. Memorial contributions are suggested to All But Furgotten Animal Shelter, 70 Carpenter Lane, Irwin, PA 15642, or www.allbutfurgotten.com.
— Marty Levine