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June 12, 1997

Name=Pitt's report to IRS shows, again: Health Sciences has highest paid

Pitt's highest paid administrators and professors during the 1995-96 fiscal year were — once again — from the Health Sciences, according to an Internal Revenue Service form that the University filed last month.

The IRS requires tax-exempt, private corporations like Pitt to file a Form 990 annually. In some years, Pitt's form has revealed previously confidential salary data such as the amounts of former coaches' contract buyouts. But this year's form contained no such surprises.

As usual, it did not necessarily reveal who got the highest total compensation from University-related sources. That's because the Form 990 is limited to salaries, benefits and allowances processed through the Pitt payroll system. The form does not take into account income from clinical practice plans and University of Pittsburgh Medical Center System hospitals.

According to the form, Pitt's highest paid employee during the fiscal year that ended June 30, 1996 was Thomas P. Detre, senior vice chancellor for Health Sciences and distinguished service professor — $412,196 in salary, $68,266 in benefits, $6,953 in expenses and other allowances.

The second-highest compensated employee last year was Jeffrey A. Romoff, senior vice chancellor for Health Administration and president of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center — $329,035 in salary, $40,692 in benefits, $9,961 in expenses and other allowances.

The salaries of Detre and Romoff were unchanged from the year before, but their benefits and expenses/allowances were down slightly.

Of the 11 other Pitt officers, directors and "key employees" as defined by the IRS, the highest-paid was Mark A. Nordenberg, who held three different titles (with differing salaries) during the last fiscal year: distinguished service professor, interim chancellor (beginning Aug. 1, 1995) and chancellor (beginning June 20, 1996). Nordenberg received a total of $182,050 in salary, $27,271 in benefits, $3,306 in expenses and allowances, and $5,184 in educational benefits.

Because of last year's high turnover of administrators, most of the other officers, directors and key employees listed on the IRS form served only for portions of the 1995-96 fiscal year — and so, only a fraction of their annual compensation showed up on the form.

Pitt's five highest paid employees other than officers, directors and "key employees" as defined by the IRS were: Bartley P. Griffith, H.T. Bahnson Professor of Surgery — $380,600 in salary and $38,894 in benefits.

Ronald B. Herberman, professor of medicine/pathology and associate vice chancellor for Health Sciences — $344,468 in salary and $39,838 in benefits.

Charles D. Bluestone, professor of otolaryngology — $314,053 in salary and $37,820 in benefits.

Lyndon Michael Hill, professor of obstetrics/gynecology — $308,217 in salary, $34,337 in benefits and $5,184 in educational benefits.

Lawrence Dobson Ellis, visiting professor of medicine — $300,600 in salary and $38,900 in benefits.

The IRS form also lists the five firms that received the most money from Pitt last year.

Pitt paid $854,610 to Butler, Pa. architects Burt Hill Kosar Rittelmann Associates primarily for work on the Medical Research Facility and the new Scaife Hall chilled water plant.

The Pittsburgh law firm of Reed Smith Shaw & McClay received $416,528 for employment litigation and patent law.

Another local firm, Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, was paid $411,551 for work involving patents and other intellectual property issues, real estate law and employee benefits.

The University paid $380,098 to Pittsburgh certified public accountants Deloitte & Touche LLP for auditing Pitt financial statements and for services related to the University's new automated voice response system that allows employees to change or confirm their fringe benefits choices by phone.

KPMG Peat Marwick LLP, Washington, D.C.-based CPAs, received $328,546 for implementation of a new Pitt cost management system and for studies of University cost allocations and space usage.

— Bruce Steele


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