In 2018, the New Pitts­burgh Courier proudly made Cecile Springer its legacy honoree at its “Women of Excellence” awards luncheon.

But not only was she a “Woman of Excellence,” Springer’s daughter, Christina Springer, told the Courier that her mother was, a “woman of action.”

There was nothing that Cecile Springer set her mind out to do that she didn’t accomplish.

“She had a plan, she had a mission, she had strong core beliefs and she had a plan to make it happen,” Christina Springer told the Courier on March 28. Her conversation with the Courier was four days after the passing of her mother, Cecile Springer. She died quietly in her sleep on March 24, ac­cording to her daughter. Cecile Springer, who lived in Oakland, most recently was spending time at an assisted living facility in Allison Park.

Cecile Springer was 94.

CECILE SPRINGER PASSED AWAY ON MARCH 24, 2025, AT AGE 94.

Cecile Springer, who was born on Nov. 19, 1930, and raised in New York City, earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Manhattanville College in Purchase, N.Y., and a mas­ter’s degree in chemistry from Wellesley College. She came to Pittsburgh in 1959, and soon thereafter, the famed Courier pho­tographer Teenie Harris snapped plenty of photos of Cecile Springer, in her days as a research chem­ist, whether she worked for Bristol Myers Labora­tory and Schering Phar­maceuticals, or as manag­er of product development for the Advanced Ener­gy Systems Division for Westinghouse Electric Co.

She also earned a mas­ter’s degree in urban and regional planning from the University of Pitts­burgh following her move to the Steel City.

From 1978-1989, Cecile Springer served as direc­tor of Contributions and Community Affairs and as president of the West­inghouse Foundation, managing its global con­tributions portfolio. Her ascent to president of the Westinghouse Foundation made Cecile Springer the first Black woman in the Pittsburgh region to lead a major philanthropic in­stitution.

For all that Cecile Springer accomplished professionally, it was her dedication to the com­munity that secured her place in Pittsburgh as a household name, a staple, a pillar. Cecile Spring­er held leadership roles with the NAACP, the League of Women Voters, and the Alumni Associ­ation at Pitt, where she served as president. She was an Emerita member of the Board of Trustees of Penn State University and served on the Boards of Trustees of Carlow Uni­versity and Slippery Rock University.

She also served on the Boards of Directors of the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh and the Carne­gie Library of Pittsburgh.

CECILE SPRINGER RECEIVES HER LEGACY AWARD DURING THE 2018 COURIER “WOMEN OF EXCELLENCE” AWARDS CEREMONY. ALSO PICTURED ARE WPXI’S LISA SYLVESTER AND COURIER EDITOR AND PUBLISHER ROD DOSS.

In 2003, Cecile Spring­er co-founded the Women and Girls Foundation to empower women to ad­dress community issues with their resources. Today, the organization flourishes in its Law­renceville location with Camila Rivera-Tinsley as its CEO and a team of staff and board members that total more than 15 women.

Christina Springer told the Courier that her moth­er and father, the late Eric W. Springer, Esq., were a perfect match. They were “each other’s best team­mate as it related to…organizing community around them,” Christina Springer said.

The awards and honors Cecile Springer received were practically endless. In addition to the legacy award from the Courier, she was named a Car­low University “Woman of Spirit,” received the Racial Justice Award in 2011 from the YWCA of Greater Pittsburgh, was named a “Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylva­nia” by former Pennsyl­vania Governor Milton Shapp, and won the 2012 Nellie Leadership Award in Civic Engagement from Three Rivers Youth (Eric W. Springer, Esq., was also awarded).

THE LATE ERIC W. SPRINGER, ESQ., AND CECILE SPRINGER.

All the honors and awards paled in compar­ison to Cecile Springer’s primary job; mother. In addition to Christina Springer, Cecile Spring­er was the mother to the late Brian Springer. She was grandmother to Nia Springer Norris, Maryn Springer, Winston Nun­ley, Daja Springer, and Brian Springer Jr., and great-grandmother to Kristin, Bethany, and Eric.

When Cecile Springer’s daughter, Christina, was 6 or 7 years old, she realized that the price of candy was going up, from 5 cents to 10 cents at the candy store. Christina Springer told her mother that she needed another nickel from now on. But Cecile Springer had other plans.

“She said, ‘well, you need to make a budget because I’m not going to just give you more money because you say you need more money,’” Christina Spring­er recalled to the Couri­er. “So I learned how to write a budget, one of the best skills one could ever learn as a child. I needed to make a budget for why that 5 cents increase was important to me.”

Cecile Springer, who also received an honorary doctorate from Seton Hill College, in Greensburg, surprised her daughter with another life lesson as soon as her daughter graduated from Antioch College, in Ohio.

“She sat me down and had me write a five-year plan for my life, and then she had me write a 10-year plan for my life, on what I wanted to achieve, how I thought I was going to achieve it, and had me do a strategic plan for my life,” Christina Spring­er told the Courier. “I achieved a majority of my goals by the age of 30 be­cause my mother taught me to think that way.”

Hmm, setting out to achieve goals, and then achieving them. Like mother, like daughter.

“It’s one thing to dream, but it’s an entirely differ­ent thing to have a plan to make that dream hap­pen,” Christina Springer added. “Mom believed in dreaming big and having an idea of how you’re go­ing to get there.”

(Editor’s Note: The funeral service for Cecile Springer was held, Wednesday, April 2, 2025, at St. Paul Cathe­dral,