"I've been very, very lucky and had a great foundation provided by my parents," says John Gismondi.
"I know people face a lot of headwinds and if I'm in a position to help them, why would I not do that?" That's the thinking behind the attorney's Gismondi Excellence Awards, which were handed out Thursday in Pittsburgh.
The awards honor nonprofits that do inspiring, innovative work and put them in front of an audience of potential donors to support them, reports the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
The five winners were: Black Political Empowerment Project, excellence in advocacy Hello Neighbor, excellence in health Trying Together, excellence in education 412 Food Rescue, excellence in innovation JADA House International, excellence in inspiration.
Each received $5,000 from the Gismondi Family Foundation, a fund held at the Pittsburgh Foundation, a community philanthropy with assets of about $1.5 billion that include thousands of individual donor funds.
Gismondi, who grew up in Uniontown, earned his bachelor's degree from Pitt in 1975 and graduated from Pitt's law school in 1978.
He has taught at the law school since 1985.
After a stint as a clerk for the late US District Judge Gustave Diamond, in 1981 Gismondi opened his own practice Downtown and
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