William S. Dietrich II

[2] Dietrich rose from salesman to president and eventually chairman and CEO and Dietrich Industries eventually grew into the United States' largest manufacture of light-metal framing for the construction industry with more than 1,800 employees at 19 plants in 17 different states.

[3] He sold Dietrich Industries in 1996 and used the proceeds to fund a charitable trust, which grew substantially from investments and from which he made his future gifts.

At the age of 40, while running his family's company, Dietrich entered the University of Pittsburgh's graduate program in political science, earning a master's degree in 1980 in and his PhD in 1984.

[4] Prior to his death, Dietrich was reported to have said that he was "moved by the thought of his parents gazing eternally at each other across Panther Hollow through the two schools that now bear their names.

At his death, he was in the process of writing a third book, to which he had given the title American Recessional: The U.S. Decline and the Rise of China.