If Edwin Hays Gott Jr. worried about the collapse of the steel industry in Pittsburgh, he made sure not to show his concern to his kids.

Those were the days of bumper stickers with slogans like: “Hungry? Eat your Japanese car,” his son Tripper Gott recalled.

As a kid himself, Mr. Gott had bounced around the country‘s major steel towns: Gary, Indiana; Chicago, Illinois; Youngstown, Ohio; and eventually Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where his dad, Edwin Sr., became chairman of the United States Steel Corp.

There was some question about whether he would follow in his father’s footsteps. His grades were slipping, and Ed senior was concerned.

“My father was pretty tough and demanding,” sister Bonnie, 83, recalled.

But Ed Gott Jr. rose to the challenge, building a career in steel that began at

See Full Page