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Spencer Dell Hirshberg

William Snyder Funeral Home

Obituaries | The Tube City Almanac | June 03, 2022

Spencer Dell Hirshberg, Esq., passed in his sleep on May 25, 2022 at the age of 80. Born July 8, 1941, Spencer was the eldest son of Pitt football hero and Carnegie Tech coach Edward J. Hirshberg of McKeesport, and businesswoman Dorothy Dell of Duquesne.

A graduate of Shady Side Academy, Spence captained the 1959 varsity golf team and lettered in football and (allegedly) squash. Ever the cut-up, Spence was inordinately proud of manufacturing a fictitious Shady Side student, “Casper Schnootz,” who achieved passing grades in English and Science until faculty learned that Schnootz didn’t exist – Spencer and friends had been ghost-writing his reports and papers. At Shady Side, Spencer met Christiana McMahan Hoffman, eldest daughter of renowned ophthalmologist Dr. Franklin D. Hoffman and Mrs. Frances Cordes Hoffman.

Set up on a blind date, Spence and Christy spent the rest of their lives together and had a remarkable marriage of nearly 60 years. His father’s athletic reputation clinched Spencer’s admission to Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. However, upon arrival at Dartmouth, the head football coach immediately recognized that Spencer was 5 foot 6 rather than 6 foot 5; likely a purposeful transposition by the senior Hirshberg to pad Spencer’s application. Spencer graduated with honors from Dartmouth, a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity and golf team, but not a football star.

Shortly after graduation, Spencer enlisted in the Navy during the Vietnam war. His father, a Marine veteran of the Pacific theater of WWII, advised him that “you’ll be drafted, so join the Navy and they’ll put you on a boat. The Viet Cong doesn’t have much of a fleet.” Spence married Christy in 1965. The young couple welcomed their first daughter, Lindsay, shortly before Spencer shipped off to the Gulf of Tonkin aboard the U.S.S. Arlington.

Arrangements are in charge of William Snyder Funeral Home.

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Originally published June 03, 2022.

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