Robert Schmertz (artist)

Schmertz was born on March 4, 1898, in Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After he completed studies at Peabody High School, where he met his future wife, Mildred, At Carnegie, Schmertz wrote the Carnegie Tartans' fight song, "Fight for the Glory of Carnegie", wrote college musicals, led a dance band, played the banjo in a jazz orchestra, and worked on the Carnegie yearbook staff. In 1921, he graduated with a degree in architecture. ==Architecture and professorship==

As an architect, Schmertz designed the St. Michael's of the Valley Church in Rector, Pennsylvania, and the renovation of the Unity Chapel in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Three years later, Schmertz served on a Pittsburgh-based American Institute of Architects executive committee that sought to identify western Pennsylvanian buildings constructed before 1860. Schmertz worked as a member of Fisher and Schmertz, and, later, headed the firm of Schmertz, Erwin and Associates. According to George Swetnam of The Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine, "many" of the buildings Schmertz designed were homes. Schmertz taught design at the Carnegie Institute of Technology for more than thirty-five years. At Carnegie, Schmertz worked on a team that designed a cyclotron for the university in Saxonburg, Pennsylvania. Schmertz retired from his professorship in 1965 (named a professor emeritus), but was teaching at the university in 1973. ==Folk musician==

In 1949, Schmertz, who played the banjo in college, recorded an LP, Songs by Robert Schmertz, after his friends bought him studio time. Schmertz's second studio album, Robert Schmertz Sings His Songs, was released in 1955: from the album, Burl Ives covered "Angus McFergus McTavish Dundee" on the Captain Kangaroo show. In 1958, composer Elie Seigmeister and lyricist Edward Mabley cited Schmertz's "Monongahela Sal" and "Lock No. Ten" as inspiration for The Mermaid in Lock No. 7, a musical "in the folk idiom, expanded by modern, sophisticated treatment" that debuted at the American Wind Symphony Orchestra. Schmertz's third album, Sing Oh! the City Oh!: Songs of Early Pittsburgh, released on Folkways Records in 1959, featured folk songs, such as "Celeron", named after Pierre Joseph Céloron de Blainville, and "The Battle of Bushy Run", after the battle of the same name, in commemoration of the bicentennial of Pittsburgh's founding. A reviewer for Keystone Folklore Quarterly described the album, to which two of his children, Gretchen Schmertz Jacob and John Schmertz, contributed, Schmertz released his final album, Ladies Beware of an Architect: Songs for Architects and Their Girlfriends, in 1960. Schmertz's music has been covered by Pete Seeger, who called Schmertz a "very good songwriter", Burl Ives, Tennessee Ernie Ford, ==Later life==

In 1970, Schmertz retired from his position at Schmertz, Erwin and Associates. Schmertz had four children: Gretchen Schmertz Jacob, John, Jack, and Mildred. Before his death, Schmertz compiled a book on his songs, though he died before it published. Ten days prior to his death, Schmertz sustained a stroke, and, on June 7, 1975, died after a long illness. ==References==