Pawlick was a linchpin for economic development in Valley
Lue Ann Pawlick may have epitomized business in the Mon Valley, but she wasn’t all business.
“Lue Ann made long-lasting, deep friendships. And she always had room for another friend,” said Diana Irey Vaughan, chair of the Washington County commissioners and one of those pals.
“Her smile lit up the room when she entered.”
Building positive relationships wasn’t Pawlick’s only forte, however. She built a reputation as an economic developer, entrepreneur, business owner, commercial real estate agent and visionary.
Pawlick, 60, a pivotal force behind the planning and development of Alta Vista Business Park and Donora Industrial Park, died of cancer on Monday. She was a 1978 graduate of Carmichaels Area High School who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration at California University of Pennsylvania.
She is survived by her son, Peter, 23, whom Irey Vaughan called “the most important thing in her life,” and her mother, Luella A. Galatic of Carmichaels.
A Peters Township resident, Pawlick was a longtime executive director of the Middle Monongahela Industrial Development Association, which drew industry to a region that had lost its signature steel mills in the 1980s.
“For years, she gave great hope to mid-Mon Valley,” Irey Vaughan said.
In 2016, MIDA consolidated with another local economic development organization, the Mon Valley Progress Council, to form the Mon Valley Alliance. John LaCarte, the alliance’s vice chairman, had worked with her at MIDA, where they forged a professional bond.
“We had a lot of common beliefs,” LaCarte said. “She was an entrepreneur at heart.
“Lue Ann’s crown jewel was Alta Vista (in Fallowfield Township). It was her vision, which she worked on with Rudy Simko. Lue Ann had the ability to find sites, get money and purchase them. Her work as an economic developer is still paying tremendous dividends for the Valley.”
Ben Brown, the alliance’s CEO, said Pawlick “was a very large advocate for businesses coming to the Valley and growing in the Valley. She’d meet with businesses and figure out problem areas and how MIDA and the state could help. She was very good at connecting businesses with the resources they needed.”
LaCarte can attest to that ability – and to Pawlick’s determination. “Many times, she came to me with an idea, and I’d ask, ‘Where will you find the funding for that?’ Well, I learned over the years not to have doubts that she could do it.”
As the oil and gas industry was on the ascent in 2014, Pawlick started a complementary business, Frac Water Resources, along the Monongahela River in Allenport. She established the water-treatment operation on the site of a longtime, but long-gone steel plant – one of several businesses she launched.
Pawlick later secured a commercial real estate license, and was working with LaCarte on an economic development project in Lawrence County when she became ill.
“It was an exciting project,” LaCarte said. “She was very involved with real estate.”
Although details are hazy, Brown said the alliance plans to celebrate the life of Lue Ann Pawlick in upcoming months – possibly a social event in Alta Vista, which has burst forth over the past decade.
“Mon Valley Alliance is saddened by the loss of Lue Ann,” Brown said. “We want to recognize her for her foresight and dedication to this region’s businesses and communities.”
Diana Irey Vaughan and friends will likely be in attendance.